Artemis Fowl and the Rise of Angels
by mercenarymoon
Summary: Artemis and Holly are getting married, and it seems they will live happily ever after, but Constantine's brother has other plans.
1. Happily ever after

**I do not own Artemis Fowl**

**This is a sequel to "Constantine", be warned, it won't make much sense if you don't read Constantine, but you're free to read it anyway :)**

Artemis Fowl and the Rise of Angels.

Chapter 1

"So technically, you two are already married." Constantine said to Artemis, holding a pool cue in one hand, and a glass of whiskey in the other. The two were in the Fowl Manor den, a spacious, green room modeled after the french smoking parlours. On one end there was a fully stocked bar, and in the middle was a pool table. A large, multi-paned glass window with white trim took up most of one wall, and provided a spectacular view to the backyard of the manor, and since it faced the west, sunlight streamed in during the afternoon.

"Yes, we are bonded by elvish, and magical, law." Artemis was across the pool table from Constantine, holding a similar pool cue, but drinking only mineral water. He looked at Constantine, who stood silhouetted against the window. He was dressed in all black, which matched the color of his hair on the back of his head. His power, as it turns out, had not completely returned after bringing Butler back from the dead, and his hair color was one of the most easily recognizable physical measurements of that. Most of his hair was still blonde, cut short and spiked up, with a few awkward strands falling down his forehead, but on the back of his head, there was a shock of jet-black hair shooting up from his neck.

Constantine leaned over the table and lined up a shot with the fingers on his left hand. "Talk about trapping a man." He fired off the cue ball, and it ricocheted around, knocking in two different solid color balls. He missed his next shot by a hairs width.

"I'm not all that bothered, to be honest." Artemis said, smiling while he examined the layout of the colored spheres on the table. He lined up a shot, took it, and knocked in three separate striped balls. "I am certain it would have happened eventually one way or another."

"Well, that's good at least." Constantine lackadaisically knocked in the ball he had originally missed, and lined up a shot with the 8-ball. "I once knew a beautiful blonde, drove me to drink." He missed the corner pocket, and he had hit the cue ball too hard, it bounced around, and sunk into one of the side pockets. He stood up from the table, his mouth tucked in to an accepting smile, and toasted Artemis with his glass of whiskey. "Only thing I've ever been indebted to her for." He drained it with flourish, and set it down on the bar. Artemis chuckled at the display.

"I did not know you were a fan of W.C. Fields."

"I didn't know you knew who W.C. Fields was."

Artemis smiled smugly. "Of course, I try to keep up to date on most modern culture."

Constantine rolled his eyes. "What are you going to tell your parents about Holly?" he held up the triangle. "Re-rack?"

Artemis nodded. "The truth will have to do, there's a chance the baby will take after her -"

"With your looks you better hope so." Constantine goaded as he placed a number of balls into the triangle.

Artemis shot him a withering look. "AND, if it's going to be pretty hard to hide if it's born with pointed ears. That's also why it's going to have to be born in the Manor."

"Ooh, Holly's gonna love that." Constantine said, not looking up, busy racking the balls. He slid the triangle back into its slot, grabbed the cue ball, and rolled it to Artemis. "Have you finished analyzing that portable pituitary stuff?"

Artemis set the ball on the little blue chalk mark on his end of the table, and leaned over it, lining up his shot with the cue. "Yes, I finished yesterday, the substance cannot be used on a newborn. After a few months it should be safe, but it would mess with the newborns system too much. I don't even think Holly should use it the last two months of the pregnancy." He rammed the cue home, and even knocked in two solid-colored balls.

"Arty, Conny, dinner is ready." Holly had poked her head in through the glass french doors.

Artemis turned around. "We'll be right there." She nodded and left. Artemis went to hang up his cue on a rack across from the bar.

Constantine however, didn't move. "She made you dinner?" He looked at Artemis, thoroughly confused.

Artemis shrugged as he walked toward the door. "I guess."

"How'd you get her to do that?"

Artemis just laughed and left, leaving Constantine alone in the room. After a second, he rushed to hang up his cue and follow Artemis. "That wasn't a joke!" he called.

Dinner, as it turns out, was cooked by Juliet, Holly was just the messenger. It was just a simple lentil soup, that Constantine, Artemis, Holly, Juliet, and Butler all got a chance to enjoy. However, Butler had to leave early to pick up the other Fowls at the airport, and Juliet had to take her bowl to the security room, to fill his post, which left Constantine, Artemis, and Holly sitting in the kitchen to eat at the island counter.

"So Constantine, did you complete that "business" you so ominously said you had to attend to when we got back from Russia?" Holly asked, pointing her spoon at the man clad in black.

"Why yes, thank you for asking." Replied Constantine, with a sickly sweet smile.

"Where did you disappear to, anyway?" Artemis asked.

Constantine shrugged. "To take care of some business." Holly rolled her eyes. Artemis resisted the urge.

"So, Arty, what are we going to tell your parents." Holly asked, directing her attention to her boyfriend.

"You haven't told her yet?" Constantine asked, the amusement showing in his eyes.

"I haven't had the time." Artemis said out of the corner of his mouth.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well what exactly have you two been up too?"

"I really don't think that's any of your business."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well I really don't think that -"

"HEY!" Holly interrupted the exchange.

"Yes?" They said in unison, feigning innocence. She nearly slapped them.

"What haven't you told me yet, Artemis?" She spoke as one would to a misbehaving kindergartener, slow and threatening.

Artemis took a deep breath and started talking, explaining everything he had already told Constantine. Holly just sat there, quietly, resting her elbows on the granite countertop. When Artemis brought up the whole "birth in the manor" thing, Holly groaned and put her forehead on the granite, but all in all, she took it rather well.

"Also," Artemis continued after the long exposition. "We're probably going to have to suffer through a Christian marriage, most likely Catholic."

Holly's ears perked up at this. "Why's that?"

"My mother will insist."

Holly hung her head. "So we're going to take a time-honored, sacred tradition about holy love between a mud man and a mud woman, and just trample all over it?"

"Oh, maliciously." Constantine muttered. Artemis ignored him.

"Asinine, I know, but that's the way my Mother was raised, and she will want to adhere to him."

"Will it have to be in a church? I'd rather it be outside, in the sun."

Artemis thought for a moment. "I might be able to convince Mother of that, but having a priest there will be paramount."

Holly groaned, but let it drop. The trio continued to eat, talking about different things, but no one really saying anything. Constantine volunteered to do the dishes, and just as he was finishing, they heard the door open and close, and the unmistakable cry of young children.

"Well, you're parents are home." Constantine announced, putting the last of the bowls in the wooden cupboards. "And you have things to discuss, so I think I'll just go home. I'll see you guys later." And with that, without giving them time to respond, he slipped out the screen door that connected kitchen with the side of the house.

Artemis watched him go. "Heart of a lion, he's got."

Holly put her arms around his left arm, resting her chin on his shoulder. "C'mon, let's go greet your parents." Artemis nodded and they went to meet them at the entrance hall.

When they reached the entrance hall, Myles and Beckett, who had been chasing one another in circles, chorused "Holly!" And went to hug the woman around the knees.

"Glad to know I was missed." Artemis commented, watching the display, but he was smiling nonetheless.

"Oh you were missed, darling!" Called Angeline Fowl, who was still standing at the door with her husband and Butler, who was performing the impressive balancing act of carrying five different suitcases at once. "Come here." She said with her arms wide open.

Artemis had to suppress rolling his eyes as he went into his mother's hug. "Welcome home Mother, Father."

"Arty!" His mother said.

This time, Artemis did roll his eyes. "Mom, Dad."

Angeline smiled, kissing him on both cheeks. "That's better, and don't roll your eyes at me." Artemis senior beamed.

"Welcome back Mr. and Mrs. Fowl, I take it your trip went well?" Holly said as she struggled to walk forward, with the twins hanging off either of her legs.

"It went wonderful, Holly dear, thank you for asking. Myles, Beckett, stop that, let Holly go." The twins dropped off Holly's legs, letting her walk forward and be met with the same intimate, french greeting that Mrs. Fowl had greeted her son with.

"What have you two been up too all this time?" Artemis senior asked.

His son resisted the urge to glance at Holly. "Just business, as usual." He said. His father looked at him skeptically, but Angeline cut him off before he could say anything.

"Speaking of which, whose Cobra was that outside?" she asked, referring to the car Constantine had parked in the driveway.

"That was Constantine's. you remember him, don't you?"

"Oh yes of course, your friend!" Angeline exclaimed, clasping her thin, delicate hands together at her chest. "How is he?"

"He's doing well, but he just left." Artemis said, he was now standing next to Holly, with either twin on either side of them, across from the parents. Butler was now walking precariously up the grand staircase, to drop the suitcases off in their respective rooms.

"Oh, well that's OK, I'm sure we'll see him soon."

"Yes." Artemis replied. "Mother, I mean, Mom, and Dad?"

"Yes dear?" Angeline asked, smiling.

Artemis gulped, no turning back now. "Would you two meet us in the den in five minutes? Holly and I have something to tell you."

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	2. The Dragons Den

**I do not own Artemis Fowl, or anyone else in this chapter. **

Chapter 2

Artemis' stomach was doing somersaults inside of him, and he paced the green carpeting of the den, waiting for his parents. Holly was sitting in a chair, with her back to the large window, and the sunlight pouring in over her shoulders. Any other day, Artemis would have thought she looked beautiful, framed by the sunlight, but today he wasn't thinking about that.

"Artemis, calm down. This isn't like you." Holly said. Her arm was draped around the armchair next to hers, and she sat in a relaxed position, but she was nervous as well.

He stopped pacing and looked at her, and his strained expression softened slightly. "You're right, of course. I'm being irrational."

Holly chuckled. "I doubt anyone could ever accuse you of being irrational."

Artemis considered this for a moment. "Perhaps not, but pacing will not solve anything."

Despite trying to portray a calm demeanor, Artemis jumped a little when the door to the den opened, but it was only Butler, sliding his big frame into the large room. "I thought you might want some help." he said.

Artemis looked grateful. "Thank you, old friend, I appreciate it, but I think I have the story down." Then, after a moments pause. "But I could use some extra moral support." Butler nodded and quietly moved to his charges side, sitting in a large chair in the corner that was specifically made for the larger members of his family to use when whomever the Fowl patriarch at the time was conducting business.

A silence ensued for a short while, both Butler and Holly sitting, and Artemis standing stalwart in front of them. Eventually, Artemis' mother and father, entered.

"Mom, Dad, please sit down, I-" he looked back at Holly and Butler for reassurance, the both nodded, and he turned back to his parents, who took sat in the sofa along the wall opposite the bar. "I have something very important to tell you, something that I've been hiding from you for a very long time, and something that will affect our family for the rest of your lives."

"Are you gay?" His father asked immediately, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I- wait, what?"

"Oh, honey, it's ok, we'll love you either way." His mother this time. For some reason she seemed positively delighted at the idea.

Artemis took a deep breath, trying to keep from shouting "I'm not gay! I'm going to be a father!" but he thought that would not have been the best way to break the news. "No, I am not homosexual, but I am a little concerned about your immediate jump to this conclusion." He spoke slowly and clearly, trying to ignore Holly's fit of giggles behind him; mainly because he was not sure whether she was laughing at him, or at just how wrong his parents were.

"What I want to tell you," he continued "is about the past, and the future; and I must beg of you, although the story is long, unbelievable, and somewhat shocking, to please not interrupt, and not ask questions until I am finished." He waited for confirmation, which came in the form of dual nods, of his conditions from his parents and continued. "This started with your disappearance, Father, and your declining health, mother. With both of you effectively out of the equation, I had to take over the family business, but in my efforts to retrieve the both of you from your respective disappearances, and the lack of income coming from the failed investment into Russia, we as a family were quickly running out of funds. Being as I had to continue the search and rescue missions for you," He indicated his father by looking at him. "and to pay for your medicine, I had to devise a plan to retrieve a large sum of money in a relatively short time. There were legal ways to do this, which I thought of exploiting, but time was of the essence, and illegal is almost always faster." His Father took in a deep breath, getting the idea of where this was going. Artemis noted this, and the shame in both their eyes at their forced withdrawl from taking care of their son. _Oh you have no idea where this is going._ He thought to himself. "This plan consisted in the kidnapping," Despite herself, Angeline gasped sharply, and Artemis senior covered his mouth with his hand. Artemis felt a sharp twinge of shame tug at his conscience. "and the holding of ransom, of a fairy, one of the People..." He continued without pause explaining how he had found the sprite in Ho Chi Minh city, exploited it for its copy of the Book, how he had kidnapped Holly, how Butler nearly died, and how he had traded half of the ransom, one half of a metric ton of gold, for Holly to restore his mothers health. He went to explain the rest of the story as well, but went into less detail as it wore on. He explained that he had a part in suppressing the B'wa kell rebellion, but didn't say, for his mother's sake, how much danger he had really been in. He explained how Holly had saved and healed his Father, but left out that he had ordered Artemis Senior shot first. He worked his way through the Spiro incident, explained that he had lost his memory, and how he had it returned. He told about Opal Koboi, and the demons, and eventually, he told them about the latest adventure, and how Holly had exiled herself from her race. He also told them how Holly was able to conceal her elfin form. At the end, he told his parents how he loved Holly, and how she loved him, and how she was going to be living with him from now on.

When he finished, the whole room fell silent. Artemis took to examining his flawless fingernails while waiting for his parents to respond. He didn't show any visible change on the outside, but on the inside, he felt a almost palpable sense of relief. He was relieved that he didn't have to hide it anymore, that he could talk openly with his parents about the fairy world. Sure he was good at keeping secrets, but after a while, those secrets could really wear down a man.

It was his father who spoke first. "So, your a fairy?" He asked Holly, the skepticism barely hidden in his voice.

"Yes, Mr. Fowl, I am. I'm technically an elf, though."

"I can vouch for that, sir." Butler spoke up, raising his hand like a schoolchild taking responsibility for kicking the ball on the roof. "I didn't believe Artemis at first either, when he brought up this whole Fairy business, but he acquitted himself of skepticism quite gloriously."

Artemis Senior nodded slowly. "You know, it would have been easier to deal with if you were just gay."

Artemis Junior put his palm to his eyes and groaned. "Father." He said over another fit of giggles from Holly. Even Butler smiled, amused.

"I'm only joking." His father protested, standing up and walking past Artemis to Holly. He stood over her, giving her his best "stern parent" look (which, admittedly, was quite good.) "Do you love my son?" He asked.

"Yes, sir. More than anyone on, or below, Earth." She said, refusing to look cowed.

"Well I suppose you know him better than any of us," he said, appearing to be thinking out loud, but Artemis had a suspicion he had thought of this all before, somehow. He made a mental note never to underestimate his Father's cunning, no matter how reformed he may be. Suddenly, his Father broke into a wide smile, and reached down to hug the surprised, elfin girl. "Welcome to the family, then, Holly!" He boomed, laughing. Artemis sighed, maybe not.

"Thank you, Mr. Fowl." Holly managed to squeak from under the embrace.

"Please, call me Timmy." He said, laughing again.

Artemis turned to look at his Mother, who had stood up from the couch, looking graceful as ever in a light green dress made of silk, and a quiet expression on her face. He hands clasped in front of her stomach. He walked over to her, and stopped, the laughter and of Holly and his Father fading away behind him. He wanted to put a hand on his shoulder, do something to elicit a response, but he didn't.

"I'm sorry." She said, quietly.

This puzzled, Artemis. "Sorry?"

"For not being there when I should have. I abandoned you because I was too weak to stay, and I left you to fend for yourself, and you were only 12." She looked up on him, and he saw tears in her eyes. His heart throbbed in pain.

"Don't be, Mo-Mom. I don't blame you for any of it, what happened was a result of my own decisions, I'm not proud of everything I've done, and I know you're not either, but we can't dwell on what's past, and what already happened. We just have to make sure we don't do it again."

His mother looked at him, wiping tears from her eyes with her left hand and taking his hand with her right. "In just a few years you've grown up."

He shrugged. "Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement, and I've had plenty of that in the past." The pair turned around and looked at Holly and Artemis Senior, who appeared to be swapping stories. Artemis nodded in her direction. "She helped a lot."

Angeline looked up to her son's profile. "Does she make you happy?" Artemis looked at her. When had he become taller than her?

"Immensely." he said.

"Then I'm glad." She said, wrapping both her arms around his right, and resting her cheek on his shoulder. "I still don't know if she's good enough for my little Arty, but I'm glad she makes you happy."

He put his other hand on her arm. "Thank you Mother."

"At least you weren't here to tell me you had gotten her knocked up." She said laughing.

Artemis gulped.

Angeline looked up at him, the laughter dieing quickly, as if it was slain by a thousand angry mothers. "Right, Arty?"

Artemis extracted himself from his mother's grasp quite quickly, and moved to the other side of the pool table, between his mother and his Father. A safe distance.

"I have one more announcement to make." He called, and all eyes were on him. He looked at Holly, who bit her lip, knowing what was coming next, but nodded him on. "Holly is pregnant. The child is mine." He waited for an explosion to come, bracing himself, But none came. Instead, silence hung about the room like the peal of a bell.

"Well," His mother started, and Artemis could see she was trying to restrain himself, and keep up some semblance of grace; but her left hand was trembling against the soft material of her dress, and balled into a fist. "I get to be a grandmother. A bit earlier than expected, but I'm happy for you. I assume you two are going to have a wedding, then" It wasn't a question. Artemis tried not to think of the word _castrate_.

"Yes, of course." Holly cut in, saving Artemis from his Mother's wrath. "A Catholic one, we thought." _Thank you Holly, _Artemis tried to convey through a look.

His mother seemed to calm slightly. "Well, that's good then."

Artemis turned to Butler. "Actually, I wanted to ask you if you would be my best man, at the wedding."

Butler stood up and looked at his charge, a tear in his eye. "I would be honored."

"That explains a bit, really." His father said, absentmindedly cutting short the moment. He held his chin in his fist, and was scratching it with his thumbnail.

"What do you mean, father?" Artemis asked, grateful for the distraction.

"Well, I was wondering why you bothered to inform us of Holly's race. If you can conceal it, then why didn't you just do it indefinitely? It would probably save you a lot of trouble, but if you're having a child, I'm guessing the serum wouldn't work on a newborn."

Artemis felt a swath of pride wash over him at his Father's deductive ability. "Yes, father. There is a chance that the baby will be born taking after Holly's elvish side, and if so, it would nigh impossible to hide from you"

"Well," His father exclaimed, clapping his hands together gleefully. "I guess I'm going to get a new daughter and a grandchild soon." He seemed to love the idea. "Who wants to tell the twins?" Everyone in the room looked at each other, no one volunteered.

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	3. Growing Up

**I do not Own Artemis Fowl**

Chapter 3

"You know, Artemis, this will mark the breaking of a long tradition." Butler said. Night had fallen outside Fowl Manor, and the three men – Artemis, his father, and Butler – of the family were outside in the back garden, enjoying cigars in celebration of Artemis' news, and to relax after quite an eventful evening. Artemis wasn't really a fan of smoking, but his Father had offered him and Butler one of his Cubans, and it would have been impolite to refuse. Juliet, Holly, and Angeline were all in the kitchen, planning out the wedding. The twins had been put to bed, which wasn't an easy task, especially after telling them they were going to have a new sister-in-law. The family decided it wasn't best to tell them about Holly's race just yet.

"Yeah." His Father mused, dreamily staring off into the sky, a broad smile on his face. The stars shone brightly on nights like this, because they were so far away from the city.

"Really, what tradition might that be?" Artemis asked the men, trying not to choke on his cigar.

"There will be no Butler assigned to protect the latest Fowl. Juliet and I were the last." The giant provided.

The thought struck Artemis, that hadn't occurred to him. "Well, you better get on that then, old friend." He said with a sly smile.

"Is that an order?" Butler asked, looked down at his charge, amused.

"I could make it one." Artemis riposted, without missing a beat. The two older men laughed, even Artemis chuckled despite himself. A silence fell between the three, but it wasn't awkward. They were just enjoying being there. "I guess I have to settle down now." Artemis said after a while.

"I'm proud of you, Artemis." His father said. And he looked down from the sky, kicking some grass at his feet. "For everything, I'm proud of how well you handled the family when I was... away, despite whatever mistakes you made."

"They weren't mistakes, dad." Artemis said, cutting him off. He was looking at the glowing cherry of his cigar, tapping the end with his index finger, knocking off a few stray ashes. "A mistake is when you get an equation wrong while working through quantum theory, I put too much planning and effort into what I did to call it a mistake. I did not really come to this conclusion until a short while ago, but I realize it now. What I did was an awful demonstration of how depraved I really was back then. It was the perfect example of my greatest flaws: my greed, my lack of empathy, my willingness to do whatever was necessary to achieve my goals. However, I also realize it was an example of all of my strengths: my cunning, my proficiency in detail and planning, and my willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve my goals. One thing I learned from it all, was that I set a line I would not cross, and since then I've worked to move that line further and further back, to something I can be proud of." He finished the soliloquy and punctuated it with a long draw on the cigar, the smoke no longer burning his throat the way it did when he started. He wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

Senior eyed junior for a minute, the latter still not looking up at him, staring off into the bushes. Then, Artemis Senior put his own cigar between his teeth, tilting his head upward again, the cigar leading his gaze up towards the cigars. "That is what I'm proud of you the most for." He said.

This earned the older man his son's stare. Artemis senior had his teeth bared around his cigar in a vicious sort of smile.

"You've grown up, and – unlike so many others – you didn't let your past consume you, and become who you are, but instead you were determined to overcome it, and even won the affection of those who you victimized. That's why I'm proud of you."

Artemis thought about what his father said. Looking at the ground again, over the end of his cigar. Butler stood behind his charges father, looking over him and absentmindedly blowing a smoke ring as he watched Artemis ponder.

"Thank you, Dad." Artemis eventually said. Artemis senior just smiled.

Later that night, Artemis was making his way back to his room, when Holly caught up with him. "Hey honey." She said, but stopped, and screwed up her face as she neared him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, stopping on the beige, patterned, carpet leading to his door.

She sniffed a couple times. "You smell like Root."

Artemis chuckled. "Yes, I guess they don't smell to great, but they don't taste too bad either."

Holly suffered the smell and walked next to him. "Don't tell me you're going to start smoking those things?" She asked, as the couple continued down to his room.

"I don't know," he said, feigning a perplexed look, and scratching the end of his chin with his thumbnail – a habit, Holly had noticed, that he picked up from his father. "they could grow on me."

"Yeah sure." Holly said, punching him in his shoulder.

"That, however," he said, rubbing his right shoulder with his left hand, and using his right hand to type in the code for his door. "I don't think will ever grow on me."

"Well you better learn, because I'm not gonna-" She realized something, as she walked into his, their, room. "Wait, you changed the code on your door."

He smiled. "You noticed?"

"Yeah, it used to be only 5 numbers, now it's six." she said, plopping himself down in his desk chair.

"Mmhmm," he said, undoing his tie in a mirror next to his dresser. "If you want to know, the new code is 050913."

Holly thought for a moment, and watched as Artemis put his suit coat away in the small closet next to the door that lead to the bathroom. "May ninth of next year?"

Artemis walked out of the closet, smiling again, now wearing just his dark blue trousers and white shirt, unbuttoned at the top. "Exactly."

Holly was getting frustrated at her fiance's purposeful ominousness. "Pray, tell us what it means, so we can all be wowed by your superior intellect." She turned around in the stiff, wooden chair as Artemis sat down on his evergreen bedsheets. He looked directly into her mismatched eyes.

"Barring any unforseen mishaps, that should be the due date of our baby."

Holly was struck my this. She hadn't even thought of that, and did this mean Artemis was being _thoughtful? _That didn't seem right, but she was still touched.

"Speaking of which," Artemis continued. "Did you and Mother decide on a date for our wedding?"

Holly nodded. "One month from now, September 16th."

Artemis smiled, then stood up and kissed his fiance on her forehead. He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and called back into his room. "I'm looking forward to it."

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	4. Of Friends and Family

**I do not own Artemis Fowl. **

Chapter 4

The next month passed quickly, and Artemis was grateful for any reprieve he could get from his Mother's constant pestering about the wedding. She wasn't very keen on Artemis' idea to have the wedding at Fowl Manor, but once he had convinced her, she pursued it with a reckoning. Artemis had never seen her walk so purposeful, she ordered around battalions of decorators like a drill instructor, and my heaven have mercy on the soul of any poor chef or caterer that crosses her. Artemis and his Father gained quite a bit of skill in evading her. Artemis asked his Father if this was what it was like at their wedding. He said no, but mumbled something about their honeymoon.

Holly had it worse than the men, because Angeline Fowl had her trying on what Holly told Artemis felt like every wedding dress in Ireland. Holly barely had a chance to look at them to decide if she liked them before Angeline had her out of it and trying on a new one. Holly said she now knew what Harry Potter felt the first time he went to Ollivander's wand shop, Artemis didn't know what she was talking about.

So Holly, Artemis, and the Butler's were all quite relieved when Constantine invited them all to dinner, about a week before the wedding.

They all turned up at his house at 7 o' clock, Artemis carrying a bottle of Port.

"I still say bringing that isn't necessary." Holly said, ringing the doorbell. She was in her human form, and she wouldn't be able to revert back to her elfin one, or it would damage the baby. "Constantine is our friend."

"It would be impolite not to bring something." He said. Holly rolled her eyes. Butler and Juliet stood behind the couple impassively.

Soon, the large oak door opened inward, and Constantine stood there with a large smile. He was wearing a white shirt, unbuttoned at the top, and black trousers. Though the black trousers were somewhat difficult to see behind the pink, floral-patterned apron which was tied around his waist. "Hi!" he said, and before anyone could greet him back, or make snide comments on the apron, Juliet had elbowed her way past Artemis and Holly and hugged Constantine around his neck, nearly tackling him.

"Conny!" She squealed. "It's been too long!" Constantine tried to regain his balance, and tentatively returned the hug.

"It's been two days!"

"That's still too long." She said, and kissed him on the cheek. She confidently walked inside leaving a stunned Constantine at the door. Holly and Artemis both greeted him warmly, and Holly gave him a sly smile when she walked past. Constantine accepted the bottle from Artemis graciously, and waved them all into his dining room.

Butler was the last in, and eyed Constantine suspiciously as he closed the door behind him.

"Two days?" He growled.

Constantine shrugged. "We've been training a bit. I don't know where that reaction came from. never seen it before."

Butler grunted and nodded. He believed the man, mainly because he didn't trust his sister not to act like a blithering schoolgirl around him.

Constantine's house was just as Artemis' remembered it. The kitchen, dining room, and living room all forming an L shape around a heavy wooden door that he knew lead to Constantine's expansive basement. The couches were all black leather, which contrasted starkly with the white carpeting and walls, and matched the black granite of his countertops. An peninsula-type counter was all that separated the kitchen from the dining room. It was simple and subdued, Artemis thought, but he could tell from the materials that it was expensive. To be honest, he wasn't that surprised, especially after Constantine payed Artemis' exorbitant consulting fee without even blinking.

Last time, however, the entire house had been pristine, cleaned and a remarkable reflection on Constantine's immense discipline. This time the kitchen seemed to be coated in a thin layer of white powder. Flour, Artemis noticed on closer examination.

"Conny," Holly said, looking over the counter at the fine grain, her hands behind her back, holding up the dark green blouse she was wearing. "What have you been making here?"

"Uh, homemade spaghetti, and my special sauce." Constantine informed, and as he did he rushed into the kitchen to stir a pot of boiling water. Next to the black pot was a wok filled with a red sauce.

"You even managed to get some on the ceiling. How'd you do that?" She said, now craning he neck to look at the ceiling.

Constantine didn't even look up from his food. "Lots of practice."

Constantine took the pot and poured it's contents into a sieve, steam rising up from the porcelain sink and into his face. With much flare he served the food to his friends, laying down huge platters of spaghetti, sauce, and veggie-balls onto the white tablecloth with as much flair as a fancy waiter. He then threw off his apron and joined them, sitting down at the head of the table.

"I'd like to make a toast." He announced, raising up his wine glass, filled with the Port Artemis had brought. Artemis, Butler, and Juliet raised glasses filled with their own choice of drink. Holly raised a glass of apple juice. "To Artemis and Holly, may you never go to bed angry, and may every night be like your first."

"Here here!" Juliet said, who was sitting next to Constantine, and they all clinked their glasses together – Constantine even got up and walked to Holly's seat so that she could reach – and took a drink. "Also," He said, a slightly more shrewd look taking his face. "I have a present for you."

"It's a little early for presents, isn't it?" Artemis said. "The wedding isn't until next friday."

"Oh the present isn't from me." He said, but didn't explain further, standing up from his seat, and walking over to his coffee table on the other side of his sofa. Artemis noticed that he had gotten thinner in the last month, and that he was sauntering, which was rather unlike the man.

He stayed silent, keeping his observations to himself, as Constantine picked up what looked like a newspaper from the coffee table. He walked back quietly, holding the paper in one hand, folded around his thumb. He set it down on the table in front of Holly, off center from her plate. "For you."

"Gee, thanks." She said, but then she noticed the name of the paper. "Wha- This is the Haven Times." She said, picking up her native town's newspaper with renewed interest. Artemis looked at it over her shoulder, scanning the front page, and Juliet and Butler even stood up, crowding in around them. "Where did you get this?"

"Pony express." He said, sitting back down. He picked up his wine glass with his right hand, and sipped it, watching Holly over the rim of the glass.

"There's an article in here about me." She said, looking down the front page. "Major Holly Short, hero of haven, to take vacation under the America's for the next 70-80 years." She read the lead out loud. "What is this?" She asked Constantine.

He pointed at the paper with his chin. "Keep reading."

She opened the paper to page three, as the article directed. "'Major Short's Aunt is quite sick, and given Holly's exemplary record, we saw no problem in granting her leave to comfort her in her last years.' The council's spokesman, and newest member, Foaly (well-known as the technical commander of the LEP) informed this reporter.'" She folded the paper angrily and glared at Constantine. "What is this? I'm on vacation and Foaly's a member of the council? What's this about technical _commander?_"

Constantine, unfazed answered simply. "You may have not been following the going-ons underground, but I have. Vinyaya retired not long after we returned from the Arctic, and Trouble Kelp took her position. Foaly, as you read, had been given an actual LEPrecon position, as Technical Commander, though the title doesn't hold much weight, and he still defers to Trouble." He leaned forward in his chair and placed his wine glass on the table. "More recently, he became a member of the council, and apparently the news of your...unfavorable... position aboveground never got out, and I believe he concocted that story about the sick aunt to explain your disappearance to the people of Haven."

Holly was speechless, so Artemis spoke. "It seems Foaly has stepped up, as they say." Holly was crying now, silvery tears falling down her cheeks.

"He said to consider it a wedding present." Constantine said.

Holly looked up, smiling, but her eyes still glistened. "That bastard. I guess this means I have to start talking to him again."

The rest of the night went smoothly, and Holly seemed, or so Artemis noticed, very happy.

**Please read and Review :)**


	5. I Now Pronounce You

**I do not own Artemis Fowl. **

Chapter 5

"How do I look?" Artemis asked, turning around from adjusting his bow tie in the mirror.

"Like you're about to get married." Constantine replied from a chair in the corner. Him, Artemis and Butler were all in the Jade Parlor; a small, though elegant, room tucked away in the northwest corner of the manor. The day of Artemis' wedding had come, and people were starting to amalgamate in the backyard, where rows of white chairs lined one side of a pristine lake and a large white arch marked the place where Artemis and his bride-to-be would say the vows. All in all, it was a nice set up, Angeline Fowl had done a remarkable planning job in just a month, though Artemis secretly suspected that she had his wedding planned for some time now. There were ribbons and confetti, and white rose petals lining the aisle way. When Artemis asked his mother why there were white rose petals instead of red or pink, she told him that it would make Holly seem more pure. Artemis, noticing the gibe, was about to respond, but a quick look from his father made him drop it.

"Well that's incredibly helpful." Artemis riposted, with a little more venom then he meant. He was calmed when Butler put both his large palms on Artemis' shoulders, brushing imaginary dust off of his tuxedo. An unnecessary gesture, but it comforted Artemis.

"You look great, Holly will be amazed." He said in a soothing voice. Artemis closed is eyes and took a deep breath.

"Thank you, old friend." He moved to the window, separating the blinds to look out into the backyard, at the guests who were filing in. "How many did Mother invite?" He asked Butler.

"Around 250."

"250?" Artemis exclaimed, backing away from the window. "Where did she find 250 people to invite?"

"Well, I believe many of them are your old classmates. Other's are the various members of the family, some are just her friends, and I think members of the press are here." Butler said, watching Artemis sit down in a chair in the middle of the room.

Artemis leaned back and crossed his legs, and started scratching the side of his chin with his thumbnail, staring intently at one of the room's green walls. "I don't like the press here." He said. "They'll eat Holly up. We gave her a past, but they'll still see it as a nobody marrying the heir to the Fowl fortune." They had given Holly a past, built off of Constantine's own fake papers. She was to be his little sister, and he would give her away at the ceremony.

"They'll try to do that anyway, at least this way we won't earn their ire." Butler said, sitting down in an ornate wooden chair facing Artemis' own.

"True." Artemis conceded, nodding his head. He still wasn't looking at anybody in particular. "It's better not to anger anybody who buys ink by the barrel."

A silence fell between the trio. They had a half-hour before they had to get in place, and none of them really had any duties to do before that. They could go and entertain the guests, but Artemis wasn't much of a socialite on a good day, and decided it would be better to stay aloof than become annoyed and reduce some poor chap to tears. That wouldn't be the best way to start a wedding, he thought.

So they sat their, silent, as the minutes ticked by, marked by an old grandfather clock in the center of one wall. Light streamed in through the blinds and produced an odd effect as it reflected and refracted off of the diamond ware that sat upon shelves, taking up the entire northern wall: it was something like a victorian-era disco ball.

Constantine sat in his chair, looking bored and happy at the same time, staring out the half-shut blinds at the sun, shards of light moving up and down his face. Even when the light shone straight into his eyes, he didn't wince, and blinked infrequently. He simply sat there, arm lazily hanging on the armrest, with a dumb smile on his face.

Artemis was considerably less relaxed. He had shifted his gaze to the green-carpeted floor and proceeded to use it to burn a hole to Australia. His knees were crossed over each other, and his white, manicured hands gripped the ends of the armrest, his knuckles becoming more and less pronounced as he squeezed and let go of the armrest to some unheard rhythm. His brow was furrowed, and a muscle in his jaw seemed ready to burst from overuse.

Butler watched all of this, his trained eyes picking up the subtle differences in motion and posture between the two men, as well as much more. He saw the small spider scurrying along the carpet at the wall, to behind the towering clock for safety, and could watch out of the corner of his eye the separate movements of the arriving guests, but his main concern was Artemis.

"Are you nervous, Artemis?" He asked his charge, putting a massive, callused hand on Artemis' thin, delicate one, careful not to apply so much pressure as to hurt the young man, only comfort him.

The feel of Butler's hand caused Artemis to look up, first at his right hand, then up to Butler's eyes. "Nervous? I'm terrified."

"Why? Don't you two have some sort of special, magical bond already?" Constantine asked, looking at Artemis. His pupils were like pinpricks from staring at the sun for so long.

"Yes, we do." Artemis nodded. "But I think, from my upbringing, the concept of actual marriage holds more weight towards my own being and the solidification of my future, while the magical bond is rather nebulous to me." Artemis said.

"Do you love her?" Butler asked, his voice surprisingly soft for someone so big.

Artemis looked back at his manservant, his eyes shining. "More than gold itself."

Butler smiled, from anyone else the declaration would seem rather dubious, but from a Fowl, from Artemis more specifically, it held as much power as anything Shakespeare ever wrote. "Then you have nothing to worry about."

Artemis nodded, but said nothing more, and returned to his previous position, with the exception of his right hand, which now continued it's rhythmic pressing on the edge of Butler's palm. Constantine too, returned to his position, staring at the setting sun, basking in the glory of the beautiful day.

Time passed slowly until Butler glanced at the old grandfather clock and noted the time, three minutes to 4:30. "Time to go." He said, standing up to his full height so that he had to duck to prevent himself from knocking his head on the wet-plaster ceiling. Artemis and Constantine stood up after him, and with Butler holding open the white screen door that separated Artemis from his future, Artemis led the way to the wedding.

As Artemis walked up the aisle to his spot next to the podium, behind which the priest (A gray-haired man Artemis knew as Father Burke) was already standing, he had tunnel vision. He tried to ignore the deathly quiet from some of the guests as he led his friends to their respective positions. He tried even harder to ignore the whispering from some of his classmates who were less polite. This wasn't difficult to do because he couldn't hear much over the pounding of blood in his ears.

When he reached the podium and turned around, with Butler standing next to him, and Juliet – who was to be Holly's bridesmaid – on the other side of the podium, the first thing he noticed was that Constantine hadn't been behind him. He mentally slapped himself for the oversight, of course he hadn't, Constantine was giving Holly away, so he would be walking down the aisle with her. The second thing he noticed was the shear multitude of people his mother – who was sitting, already crying, in the front row, his father next to her, holding her hand – had invited, and in noticing this he applied a smug smile to his face. The smugger the better, after all, this was his day, and why shouldn't he be a little obnoxious about it? He was marrying the most beautiful creature to inhabit this planet. Every one would envy him, the press, his family, his classmates, Dr. Po-

Wait a minute. Dr. Po? Oh sweet Christ his mother invited the good doctor to his wedding. Artemis groaned inwardly, but didn't let it show on his face.

"Artemis." Butler whispered at the corner of his mouth. The words caught Artemis' attention, and had him looking down the aisle again.

All thoughts of self-righteousness, power, and envy dropped out of Artemis' mind as quickly as his jaw.

_Oh... _

Artemis wasn't really capable of coherent thought beyond that.

There stood Holly, arm in arm with Constantine, in a mermaid-style wedding dress, with a lace pattern wrapped around it. The pattern was that of nature, tree branches and leaves wrapped around Holly's torso and breasts, tastefully accentuating her natural curves. The branches formed a triangle pattern at her waist, and beneath it, thin roots crisscrossed across her hips, legs, and to the end of her train. The lace continued out from her shoulders, and down her arms to form sleeves, and on the back of each her hands, which clasped a bouquet of white flowers, rested a singular, broad elm leaf. Her veil was similarly decorated falling down just past her shoulders, and a thin material of lace covering her face.

Here Comes the Bride was playing from somewhere, but Artemis couldn't really hear it. He had not seen Holly all day, at his Mother's insistence, they weren't even allowed to sleep together the night before, and now that he saw her like this, radiant and stunning in a wedding dress, he was having trouble putting coherent thoughts together. Coherence hell, if asked, he probably would have had trouble putting two and two together. He had to remind himself to breathe.

He was brought back to his senses by Butler closing Artemis' mouth with the tip of his index finger. When his teeth clacked together, he seemed to suddenly be able to hear other sounds as well. The wafting, solid, tones of a steinway his mother had rented berated his ears, and the songs of cardinals and robins singing in the forest surrounding the grounds pierced as clearly as any flutist he had ever heard, and ten times as beautiful. Nature itself was proclaiming it's joy at this occasion.

Not only that, but Artemis noticed the envious, desirous, and sometimes shocked looks of his schoolmates as Holly progressed up the aisle, her footfalls soft on the white roses. He derived a certain amount of pleasure at the confused and perturbed look of Dr. Po, and, on some of his worse days, would take out the mental picture of the therapists face at that moment to give himself of chuckle.

When the two reached Artemis, Constantine broke off from Holly and stood behind the couple, who stood to face Father Burke; Artemis' arms locked at his side, and Holly's still clasping the bouquet of what Artemis could now tell was white lilies. The couple stood for 45 minutes as Father Burke, in a gravelly, deep, soothing voice, went through the traditional readings before the Rite of Marriage. Thankfully, he kept his homily short. When he asked the congregation who was to give Artemis the blessing of marriage, Artemis senior stood, gave his son away, and sat back down. When Father Burke asked who was to give Holly away, Constantine stepped forward.

"Our Father died long ago," He stated, sounding surprisingly regal. "So in his stead, I am here to give away my younger sister." Father Burke laid out the traditions of marriage to Constantine, who nodded, and in a similar fashion to Artemis Senior, gave Holly away, before taking his reserved seat on the bride's side of the aisle.

"Who bears the rings?" Father Burke asked, and from the back, Myles and Beckett, dressed identically, came forth carrying two velvet pillows, each with the wedding bands atop them. They stopped in front of the couple, who turned to face each other. The priest blessed the rings, and asked the crowd. "If anyone objects to this union through Holy Matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace." Artemis was took a deep breath, barely believing that this was about to happen.

"Hey! Wait!" A voice shouted. The entire crowd started murmuring, and it took all the self control Artemis had to not seek out whoever it was who shouted and throttle him. Instead he turned towards the congregation, to see a small, squat person with a thick beard dressed in a murky blue suit running across the lawn, with one of the black-clad security guards Butler had hired in fast pursuit. Holly, seeing who it was, glanced at Artemis.

"Whoops." He breathed. For the gate-crasher was Mulch Diggums, who they had forgotten to invite.

"Hey! Holly! Ow, geroff me!" Shouted the dwarf, as the guard, a burly man with sunglasses and a shaved head, caught and picked him up.

"Sorry about that sir," Said the guard to Artemis, for the pursuit at lead them quite close to the white arch that Father Burke stood under. "I don't know how he got by me."

Artemis looked at the dwarf, amused, then said to the guard. "Yes, he's a slippery one, but you can let him go. He's also a friend. Please, bring him a chair." The people in the congregation murmured at how the cold, aloof Artemis Fowl could have such an uncouth friend.

As the guard put Mulch down and started off to find a chair, the dwarf said with as much indignation as he could muster: "Yes, one you forgot to invite to your wedding, but did I get mad? No. I decided I would be gracious, and show up anyway."

Artemis smiled, he would never admit it but he missed the dwarf, despite his rude habits. "Hello, Mulch. It's good to see you too."

Holly looked over Artemis' shoulder. "Hi Mulch." She said with a sheepish smile.

"Um, Sir?" Father Burke asked, Mulch, perplexed about the whole situation. "Do you have any reason to object to this union?"

"What? No my good man, please continue." Mulch said, and he sauntered, as much as one 3 and a half feet tall could saunter, to a place at the end of the first row, where he stood until the guard brought him a stool.

"Now," The Father continued, attempting to regain his professionalism. "The couple would like to read their own vows."

Artemis turned to Holly, taking his hands in hers. He had been waiting for this moment all day, reciting the words he had chosen in his head. "Holly," He began. His throat felt like sandpaper, but the words came out stronger and clearer as he went on. "No one who knows the circumstances of our meeting would ever have said that one day I would be beside you at the proverbial alter. Though I think it is because of those original events, that things have managed to turn out the way they did. When we met, I was young, mean, depraved, and insensitive. But despite of everything I did, despite events that would have made a normal person give up on me, somewhere inside you saw a good, decent human being. You latched onto that spark of decency, and pulled me out of that shell, kicking and screaming, but nonetheless, made me the man I am today. You made me into something better than that aloof little boy, you taught me the value of life, the importance of my own self-doubt, and how to be confident, without tearing others down. You are the pillar to my life, and I love you more than I could possibly express, no matter how expansive my vocabulary. I love you Holly, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, always by your side, through sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, to love and obey, till death do us part." Artemis was nearly choking up by the end of it, and Holly's eyes were watering, her smile reaching from eye to eye.

Holly started to recite, her voice occasionally catching. "Artemis, when we met, you were a self-righteous, despicable little git, and I hated you. But someone told me once that Hate is an emotion so close to Love, that the line between the two is thinner than a thread of silk, and it must be true. Despite how I felt for you, or probably because of it, over all of our travels, my emotions for you turned, on you and on myself. I started to long for our fleeting conversations, and whenever I saw you, my heart would skip a beat. My feelings for you cooled to friendship, then again flared, on the other side of that line, for the man you had become. I love you, Artemis, the you you are now, with all my heart. For richer, for poorer, through sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and obey" In her head, she thought "as if," but continued: "till death do us part." When she said those words, tears streamed down her face. Tears of happiness, for their marriage, and tears of sadness, for the truth those words held. Death would part them, his death. He would whither and die, while she would remain youthful, and have to carry on her life without him. In that instant, she wished for whatever god this priest represented to exist, for whatever afterlife he proclaimed to exist, and that the god would recognize their union, even if holy water burned her. She wanted to be accepted into heaven, so that her and Artemis could be together for eternity.

"I think I'm going to cry." Mulch choked from the congregation, and, without a word, Artemis Senior handed the squat, bearded man the hanky he had been using to blot his own eyes.

Artemis and Holly each picked up their rings, and slipped it on the others fingers. The cold metal of the skin contrasting with their own warm tears. "Do you, Artemis, take Holly Seven to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Artemis thought Juliet's favorite phrase "Well, duh." would be appropriate here, but held back. "I do." He said.

"And do you, Holly," Father Burke continued. "Take Artemis Fowl the Second to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." Holly said, blinking away a tear that rolled down her tan, flawless cheek, and off one of her cherubic lips.

"Then by the power invested in me, by the Roman Catholic Church, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

And with an immense passion that none attending had ever seen him exhibit before, Artemis Fowl II kissed his wife.

**Good lord that was a long chapter. Please Read and Review :)**


	6. Till Death Do Us Part

**I do not own Artemis Fowl**

Chapter 6

"With the exception of his parents, I'm sure I've known Artemis longer than anybody here," Butler said, his booming voice stretching out over the manor's gardens, where all two hundred and fifty of the wedding's guests had congregated after the ceremony for the reception; a well-catered affair that was being served by about 100 rented waiters, dressed to the nines in white tuxedos. Butler was giving his best man's speech, the first of a long list of speeches that Artemis had to suffer through, and the only one he actually looked forward to hearing.

"And I was just as surprised as anyone when Artemis told me he was gong to get married." There was some muffled laughter of assent at this. "I knew he was serious, though, when he didn't give the pre-approved signal for me to fake a heart attack at the podium." More laughter. Artemis even smiled at this. "In seriousness, though, I've known both Artemis and Holly for as long as they've known each other. I was there when they met," _Yes you were, big man, you shot me. _Holly thought. "And I've followed them on their various misadventures together and watched the feelings they had for each other grow and mature into something beautiful. When I learned they had finally gotten together, I was more surprised that Artemis actually admitted his feelings for Holly, more than I was – knowing everything they'd been through – that he actually had feelings for her. Holly," He twisted his head to look down at her. "You're part of the family now, and Artemis loves you more than I could possibly explain, may your love transcend time and space; and I'll deal with anyone else that tries to get between you too." He raised his glass, and the people at the reception cheered, raising their glasses with him.

Artemis leaned over Holly to Butler, who was sitting back down. "Thank you, old friend." He said, reaching out his hand. Butler took it and smiled.

The reception was set in the manor's northern gardens: a large area separated from the Wedding area by a lake and a 10-foot hedge. In fact, the whole area of the gardens were surrounded by similar hedges, with small red rosebuds woven in and out of the leaves. Tables were set out, covering the cross-shaped gravel walkway, and extending onto the lawn, ending right before the flower bed. There were ten people to a table – with the exception of Artemis', which now had Mulch seated at it as well. Along with Artemis and Holly, there was Butler, Juliet, Mulch, Myles and Beckett (who were constantly pulling on Mulch's beard and asking to examine his teeth,) Minerva (who was surprisingly well-behaved,) Minerva's Father, Artemis Senior, and Angeline. Doubtless some of the greedier distant relatives of the Fowls were a little put-off at being replaced at the head table with the usurper, Mulch, and the little blonde French girl.

The next toast came from Artemis Senior, to which Artemis listened with quiet attentiveness while holding Holly's hand gently under the table. Thankfully, for Artemis, his Father's speech was short and sweet, simply expressing how happy he was that his son had found somebody to spend the rest of his life with. He ended the speech by shaking Artemis' hand, and giving him a hug, which Artemis found slightly uncomfortable, but obliged to anyway.

After his Father's toast, there were several toasts and speeches from family members that Artemis had barely met before who were trying to get into the Fowl heir's good books, and Artemis listened to them with less and less interest. By the time all the toasts had ended, Artemis was starving, and silently cursing his mother's idea to wait till the end of the toasts to serve the food. Artemis hadn't eaten anything all day (he was too nervous,) and now had a glass and a half of champagne in him, and was grateful when the first dish, a fruit salad, was placed in front of him.

"So, Arty." Minerva called from across the table. Artemis mentally braced himself for a chiding. Minerva and him had _kinda _been dating when the whole fiasco with Constantine happened, and he had _kinda _didn't tell her what had happened between him and Holly, until she got the wedding invitation, that is. Artemis remembered getting the call from her that night: She shouted at him for 5 minutes until he put the phone down and let her shout at his desk; when he picked it back up ten minutes later, she was still shouting.

Holly squeezed his left hand under the table, a little harder than affectionately. "Why don't you tell us exactly how you and Holly met?" Minerva said, with a sickly sweet smile. Artemis returned the smile with equal insincerity. Minerva knew exactly how they met; apparently she was still mad.

Artemis and Angeline squirmed in their seats, glancing at each other. Artemis noticed and had to hide his displeasure; they had planned for this, there was no reason to get nervous. "Her father was a translator I had worked with on one of my business ventures; a remarkably gifted man. Unfortunately he passed away soon after we met, and you could say I pressed Holly, who is equally, if not more so, talented, into working with me."

This story wasn't really for the benefit of anyone at the table, just about everyone but the twins and Minerva's dad knew the real story. This was a story concocted for the benefit of the numerous other guests at the wedding, any of whom could be listening in on the story.

"Oh, well isn't that fortunate. It's good to know you've been manipulating women all your life." Minerva said.

Apparently she was still bitter. Artemis thought about responding in kind, but he valued Minerva's friendship too much to do so. Anything he said would surely destroy that. Instead he ignored her and looked about the table: The twins were asking Mulch to show them exactly how much he could fit in his mouth at once. His father was discussing building a vacation home further north with his mother. With a smile he noted Mr. Paradizo scolding Minerva for her outburst. Constantine and Juliet were chatting away like twittering jay birds, probably about some wrestling move, and Butler was stoic as ever, looking about the reception, keeping an eye out for threats, ever vigilant. That left Holly and Artemis, still holding hands underneath the table, each eating the fruit salad with the other hand.

Artemis looked at her and smiled, lightly squeezing her hand. She smiled back. He leaned over and whispered something into his wife's ear. She giggled, blushed, and squeezed his hand, her fingers interlocking with his.

"Artemis, my boy!" The unmistakeable voice of Dr. Po called from behind him. Artemis turned around in his seat, annoyed that his moment with his bride had been interrupted so callously.

"Hello Dr. Po." Artemis said in a calm, measured tone. Despite his annoyance, he stood to shake the older man's hand.

"Artemis I just wanted to congratulate you on your wedding. I never thought I would see the day when Artemis Fowl the Second would admit his feelings so openly." Dr. Po put his hands in his pocket as he looked at Artemis with a self-satisfied smile. Apparently he thought he had something to do with this. "A historic moment."

Artemis treated the good doctor with his best vampiric smile. The confidence dropped from Dr. Po's face when he saw the ghost of the younger on the older's visage. "Of course, Dr. Po, I always make history."

"Yes, well. . . congratulations again." The doctor finished rather lamely, and walked back to his table.

The rest of the reception passed similarly, Artemis warding off questions about Holly's past from Minerva and her Father, while simultaneously having to meet with various members of the family who felt it necessary to personally congratulate the man who would become their patriarch. Some of Artemis' schoolmates even came to congratulate him, some of whom were rather drunk. He was rather sick of it, by the end, and the only thing that kept him going with a smile on his face was Holly, gently squeezing his hand beneath the table, and whispering promises in his ear about the night to come.

When dinner was over, Artemis' mother ushered the guests that were left (about half, who were prominent businessman or men with families, had left immediately after dinner) into the maze. She lead them through the turns to the center, which had been cut away into a large dance ground, with a DJ set up at one end, and a few chairs and tables at the other. She called Artemis and Holly to the front, and told the rest of the group to stay back while the couple shared their first dance as husband and wife. Holly was frantic, she had never danced formally before, but as he lead her to the center of the grass, he whispered in her ear. "Just follow my lead."

She but her lip, nodded, and followed him to their place in the middle of the makeshift pavilion. Artemis wasn't exactly known for coordination, but who knew what surprises the mud man, her _husband, _held.

The song that started playing was slow, and quiet at first. Artemis took her hand and started leading her in a simple 4-step waltz. As the music kept playing, Holly noticed that it was familiar: she had heard it before, while she was on stakeout with Artemis at the opera, at the beginning of the demon incident. It was called Cartman, or Carmen or something like that. Even more amazing than the fact that she recognized (sort of) a classical human piece, was that Artemis was actually a good dancer. A little stiff, sure, and she somewhat doubted that he could do anything less formal than a tango; but his form was there, and he wasn't stepping on her feet, which was a good thing.

The song ended quickly, and Artemis left the center of the pavilion with Holly in tow. With everyone else filling in their lost space, he figured they could have a private conversation with someone without anyone noticing. Holding Holly's hand, he looked through the crowd until he found the man he was looking for. He walked up to the man, who's back was turned, and tapped on his shoulder.

"Hello, Mulch." The squat dwarf had managed to extricate himself from the twins clutches, and find his way to the rest of the party. He turned to Artemis.

"Artemis!" His beard quivered with mirth. "How are you? Sorry about crashing your party a little late, but I didn't know exactly when it was. I'm glad I didn't miss the grand finale, though, eh mud man?" He elbowed Artemis playfully in his hip.

"How did you know about the wedding, anyway? No one underground is supposed to know that I'm even here." Holly asked from over Artemis' shoulder.

"That's what I want to know." Artemis said, eyeing the grinning dwarf.

"Yeah, thanks for telling me that, by the way." Mulch said. "Glad to know I was in the loop."

Holly gave an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Mulch, I really am. It wasn't exactly a planned thing."

Mulched waved her off. "Ah it's alright. And Foaly let me know, by the way. He said you'd appreciate me being here. I got the impression you were mad at him, though." He said.

Holly looked guilty. "I was mad at him."

Artemis looked at his wife. "He wants to be forgiven, Holly."

"I know."

"What happened?" Mulch asked.

Holly and Artemis looked at each other. "It's a long story." Holly said.

"Well then let me get some food and get started. You can tell me about this Constantine fellow while you're at it, too."

And after Mulch got his food, the trio caught up, like only friends can.

Constantine got home well into the night. He didn't leave the reception until 11 o' clock at night, and had been one of the last to leave. By the time he had made it home, he was dead tired. He made it up to his room in a daze, and had taken off his bow-tie and tuxedo jacket when he heard a voice call from behind him.

"Hello, little brother."

Constantine spun around so fast he nearly made himself dizzy. Sitting on his bed, looking at him with a shit-eating grin, was his older brother: Severus the Trap.

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	7. Brothers to Arms

**I do not own Artemis Fowl**

Chapter 7

"It's good to see you, brother. It has been too long since we talked." Severus said, his voice drawling like theirs both did when they were young.

"That's because last time we spoke you cut off my wing and tried to kill me." Constantine said. He leaned up against his dresser and folded his arms across his chest, watching the man who was sitting on his bed. Severus had the same bleach-blonde hair color as Constantine, though it was slicked back to his skull, as well as a similar build, though Severus was a little broader; but he had none of the scars: bare, unmarked skin ran over corded muscles up into the short sleeves of his black T-shirt.

"Oh please, Conny, that was twenty years ago, let the past be the past." Severus said, rolling his eyes. He smirked at Constantine.

"Don't call me that. My wife called me that."

Contempt grew on Severus' face. "Oh yes, the _woman_."

Equal contempt showed on Constantine's visage. "Don't talk about her like that. You didn't even know her. You didn't even come to my wedding."

"I wasn't invited."

"I didn't exactly know who you were at the time."

"And whose fault is that?"

"You could have come, you could have jogged my memory."

A smile appeared on Severus' visage, curling his mouth at the ends, narrowing his eyes, making his features look more pointed, and dangerous. "I did try to bring you back, to cut all your "human" tethers."

Constantine narrowed his eyes and flared his nostrils. A snarl on his lips. "You killed them."

Severus nodded, opening his arms wide and closing his eyes. "I did. I freed you from all your pathetic ties."

Constantine, barely containing his rage, smashed his fist into the dresser he was leaning against. The drawer he hit splintered. "You bastard! That was my wife and daughter! Your sister in law and -"

"DON'T..." Severus snapped, pointing a finger at Constantine. "Don't relate me to those _humans." _

Constantine walked over to his window, not able to look at his brother. He gripped the wooden sill, and could hear it creaking under the pressure. "Goddammit Severus! How many times do I have to tell you? We are human."

Severus laughed. "No we're not, brother. We are better than them in every single way. We have transcended petty human limits. We are enlightened."

Constantine took several deep breathes. "They don't kill needlessly."

Severus laughed even harder at this. "Yes they do. They fight wars, rape, and murder. They look for any excuse to slaughter each other at the drop of a hat.

Constantine stared out the window. The soft light from the full moon was pouring in and draping over his skin. "They can change. They can improve. You just have to give them a chance."

"Are you still going on about that?" Constantine turned and stared at his brother, who still wore that sardonic smile. "I'm giving them a chance, brother, I'm giving you a chance: to change everything with me. I've perfected the formula, brother. I can make you truly immortal. I can see your hair darkening, even in this light. You used up too much of your power trying to help them, but the scars they carved into your body will not fade."

"The scars you have given me run deeper than any bullet." Constantine said.

"And time heals all wounds." Severus shook his head. "Why do you protect them so? We can destroy the pathetic people who inhabit this earth and rebuild anew. You and I, together, side by side."

Constantine stared at Severus, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. "Forgive me if I don't want to work with the murderer of my wife and child." Then. "I won't kill again."

Severus let out a deep breath through his nose. "You've gone soft on me, brother." Constantine remained silent. "You've let these humans dull your senses." Severus twisted to look at Constantine, his mouth and face warping into a evil grin. "You didn't even hear the bombs I planted around your house."

It was Constantine's turn to smile. His ears twitched as the frequency of the high pitched beeps in his ears increased. "Yes, I did."

Severus' smile dropped off his face and his expression turned to one of confusion.

"Why do you think I've blocked all the exits?"

Severus' head jerked towards the door, but Constantine shook his head, laughing.

"Locked from the outside. I did it as soon as I figured out what room you were in. It was the one that reeked the most of gunpowder and blood, if you were interested. And I'm blocking the window, so you're done for. We;re going to die together, Severus, a family. Just like you always wanted. Just like the one you took from me."

Severus shot up from his perch on the bed and faced Constantine, head down, eyes narrowed. He looked like a cornered jungle cat. "I thought you wouldn't kill."

Constantine shifted his weight, and opened his hands wide; ready to grapple with his centuagenarian brother. "I'm not. I'm going to make you kill yourself."

Severus charged forward with a roar, and tackled Constantine with all his might around his midriff, but Constantine had been ready for this. He placed his right foot up against the windowsill, and transferred most of the blow into the wall behind him. He took his right arm, threaded it between Severus' neck and right shoulder, and pressed down with his elbow. The pressure would have snapped an ordinary man's neck like a twig, but Severus managed to twist his entire body, and throw Constantine over his back.

Constantine landed in a sitting position and grabbed onto Severus' right arm, and, with a quick twist, broke his wrist. Severus howled like a wounded cat, but Constantine wasn't done yet. With a massive effort, and every ounce of his super-human strength, he turned his body and threw Severus by the arm into the opposite wall. Constantine stood back up and took his original position in front of the window. "I always was stronger than you, Severus." He said, quietly. Severus was picking himself up from the heap he had fallen in. He was livid. "But don't worry, _brother, _it'll all be over soon." Constantine heard the high-pitched beeping pick up in speed, only a few more moments now.

"You're right, Constantine," Severus said, setting himself against his legs. "You _were _stronger." He charged forward. Constantine put his foot against the windowsill again, but when Severus hit him this time, the wood shattered, and the force Severus had generated sent them both flying out the window.

In midair, time seemed to slow down for Constantine. He could smell the gritty gunpowder clinging to his brother's clothes. He could feel each individual shard of glass pricking him through his tuxedo shirt. The scent of grass and trees filled his nostrils. He could feel Severus' strong fingers gripping his arm and side, trying to gain the upper hand. Sight came in flashes. Black cotton. Blonde hair. A hand. A foot. He could smell burning wood and linen as his home burst into flames.

The explosion ripped across his ear-drums, and propelled both of them, still tangled together, flying across the yard. They landed with a dull _thud, _and Constantine cried out as his back impacted with the cold ground. Severus tumbled off of him, and Constantine could only see the night sky anymore.

Constantine was numb, and the edges of his vision were blurred, and his limbs felt heavy, like they did right before you went to sleep. Constantine turned over and tried to crawl and pull himself up to his elbows. He felt something wet on his back, it felt like blood. He wasn't sure if it was his or Severus'.

He clawed at the grass, digging up clods of dirt in his palms; struggling to get up, to fight. A heeled boot fell on his right hand and crushed it into the dirt. Constantine screamed through his gritted teeth. He managed to turn over, and look up. It was severus, looking down on Constantine.

Severus squatted down, his face passive. "You tried to kill us, brother." He said. "Your pathetic."

Constantine reached up to grab Severus' face, but Severus batted his hand away easily.

"You've completely lost your will to live. The Constantine I know never would have sacrificed himself simply to kill me."

Anger welled up inside Constantine, and poured out onto his face. His eyes wide, his mouth snarled and grotesque, his brow furrowed with creases lining his forehead, and shooting out from under his eyes like the embers of a firework. "The Constantine you knew is dead." He said, despite the pain it caused him. "He died ten years ago, but she raised me up. She made me born again, but you had to kill that too."

Severus snickered with a smirk. "Pathetic." He leaned over to Constantine's ear, so that Constantine could hear him when his voice was only a whisper. "You never found your daughter's body, did you? In that grave in St. Mary's graveyard in Dublin, there's just an empty casket, rotting away to be food for the worms."

"The bomb you planted reduced it to nothing but ash." Constantine whispered. It was true he never found her body, but he knew she was there, because he found the twisted, melted remains of the sterling silver necklace he had given her for her third birthday amongst the burning steel and scent of smoking flesh. It had an angel pendant on it, "A guardian angel, to protect the light of my life." he would whisper to her on the cold nights as he rocked her to sleep.

Severus was grinning now. "No. I wouldn't let the halfling die the same death as that human. She's of our blood, after all. Angel's blood. I have her. I've raised her since she was a toddler; in my home. You can see her if you'd like."

Constantine's eyes widened. He screamed in frustration and rage, and thrashed about, trying to reach Severus, trying to force him to him where his daughter was. Severus just laughed and started to walk away. Constantine's sight was becoming less blurry, and some of his strength was returning to him. He tried to drag himself to his feet, but Severus was already too far away. "I'll be waiting." He called. Constantine blinked, and he was gone.

Constantine cried his daughters name into the night, a haunting call that reached all the spirits who wandered the forests around his burning home; all the evil things that haunt unsuspecting tourists in the night, making their skin crawl, and stealing their souls while they sleep; all the terrible monsters that only exist in little children's worst nightmares; all the crows and ravens who took flight in a panic: and it made them afraid.

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**Sorry for the wait, i've been really busy with college. **


	8. Fire and Brimstone

**I do not own Artemis Fowl**

Chapter 8

Holly and Artemis were... occupied. Artemis had ordered all servants, Butler and Juliet included, out of the north wing of the manor, and made a mental note to get his own penthouse in the city as he did so. Either way, Holly and him were going to have their wedding night, not in his room, no, but in the largest master bedroom; he had it prepared for them a week in advance. This was to be their bedroom from now on, and they were going to consummate it without any interruptions.

In the middle of the night, maybe an hour after Constantine and Mulch had left, they were interrupted by Butler pounding on the door. Artemis thought about ignoring the manservant, but his new door did not have the sturdiness of his old one, and Butler would never be interrupting them if it wasn't important. He untangled himself from Holly, who looked at him curiously, and a little more than slightly annoyed. "What is it, Butler?" Artemis called, the tone in his voice reflecting the emotion in her face. He unwrapped himself from the duvet, and grabbing a dark dressing gown that was hanging on the bathroom door. Holly scowled as her peep show disappeared behind thick cotton curtains. "This better be important."

"Artemis, Juliet and I heard an explosion while we were doing our rounds around the grounds." Butler called. Artemis and Holly looked at each other, concerned. Holly shook her head at Artemis and shrugged.

"We didn't hear anything, Butler." Artemis called back. "Are Mother, Father, Myles, and Beckett alright?"

"Yes, sir. The explosion wasn't on the grounds, it was off in the distance." Artemis' annoyance retook it's spot on his visage.

"Then why is this our problem?"

"The explosion came from the direction of Constantine's house."

Artemis fell silent. He looked at Holly, worry evidence on her face. "Did you call him?"

"Yes sir." Butler called back, still beyond the door. "His home, and his mobile number. Both were disconnected."

Artemis closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "Alright," he went towards a walk-in closet to put on some casual clothes. "we better go check on him, then."

"Yes, sir. I'll get the Bentley ready."

Holly got out of the bed and followed Artemis into the closet, there was really no point in covering up anymore; they were kinda past that stage. "I'll come too." She said, as he took his robe off to get changed into more suitable clothing. She wrapped her arms around his midriff as he reached up to take a blue shirt off a hanger, pressing her chest into the small of his back.

"Are you sure? It's probably nothing." He said, craning his head around to try and look at her. Her eyes were closed.

"Yes." She squeezed his stomach gently. "Besides, if it turns out he just got drunk and blew his hand off with some fireworks, or something, I'll kill him myself."

Artemis smiled. His fiery goddess.

It was evident at once that the problem was more serious than either of them had known as they neared Constantine's house. A blaze could be seen through the thick forests, shining a haunting, orange glow, lighting up the night. Artemis urged Butler to speed up from the back seat, where he sat with Holly, Butler obliged gladly. Juliet sat quietly in the passenger seat, biting her lip.

They reached his house in a matter of seconds, and parked at the entrance to the driveway. The whole house was burning. Pieces of wood and glass were scattered across the once immaculate yard, and on a sloping hill that led into the woods sat Constantine, his knees pulled to his chest, with his arms folded across his knees; wrapped in a flickering gold and orange light, watching everything he owned burn to the ground with a disconcerting passiveness.

"CONNY!" Holly called out as soon as she got out of the car. Her, Artemis, Butler, and Juliet all rushed over to him, he barely glanced at them.

"Hey, guys." He said with that false neutrality you get from someone insisting they're alright after a close family member has died. He was bombarded with questions immediately.

"Holy Frond, are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"Who did this?"

"I'm going to call the fire brigade."

"No!" Constantine said, looking at Artemis, who had made this last statement. "No fire brigade." He finished with the same neutrality as before.

Butler eyed Constantine carefully, but said nothing. Instead he took the situation to case the perimeter of the forest. This situation reeked of a trap.

"Why not?" Artemis asked, stunned in a rare moment.

Constantine went back to staring at the house. "A fire brigade means they'll find out it was arson. Arson means a police investigation, and a police investigation into my private affairs is the last thing I need right now."

Holly brought her hand to her mouth. "Arson?"

Constantine said nothing. He just watched his burning pile of neat shit, his chin resting on his forearms. Nobody said anything, nobody moved, nobody knew what to do.

After a moment, Juliet sat down next to Constantine, and pulled him over, so that his head was resting on her shoulder. He didn't say anything, he didn't resist. She held one of his hands in her lap as she stroked his hair with her other. "Oh, Conny, I'm so sorry."

"It's just... stuff." He said, but even as he did so, his voice caught in the back of his throat.

She put her cheek against the top oh his head. "But, it was your home."

"Everything important was underground, and that area will be fine: it's completely fire-proof." He said, but she felt him squeeze her hand tightly. She returned the pressure, and as she did, she felt something warm and wet drop onto her hand. Then another drop, and another. He was crying.

No one said anything for a while. The group just stood there, watching the blaze as it destroyed indiscriminately, and the two story house burned to nothing; till just embers remained, and a large door, with the triangular encasement that betrayed a staircase jutting out of the ground like a monolithic obelisk. It took about an hour, the whole of which Constantine spent in Juliet's arms, her alternately stroking his hair, squeezing his hand, and whispering quiet words of comfort that neither Artemis, Holly, or Butler could hear.

When there were just a few sparks left, and the blackness of night had consumed the group, Constantine whispered to Juliet. "Thank you." No one else heard. No one else was meant to.

Juliet was surprised for a minute, then whispered back, with a soft smile. "Silly, you don't have to thank me for this. I want to do this. This isn't a favor, not something that has to be repaid, it's just what people who care about each other do."

For the first time since they arrived, Constantine smiled, a slight twitch at either corner of his mouth, but a smile. "I'm grateful, nonetheless." With that, he stood up, and she got up with him. Alone, though, he walked to his house, and started sifting through the ashes and charred timbers, looking for something.

"Do you want to tell us what happened, now?" Artemis asked, walking up to the black remains of the building.

Constantine let out a deep, mournful sigh, and looked up from the ashes he had been looking from. "You remember I told you about the other two remaining Angels? Severus and Marcus?" The group nodded. He told them the whole, tired story, and when he was finished the group was silent.

"Your daughter..." Holly finally breathed.

"Yes." Constantine said, returning to his search through the ashes. "I don't know if he's lying or not. It's true I never found her body, but I wouldn't trust my brother as far as I could throw...well... you could throw him." As he said this he pulled a long, black, leathery material out from under a fallen and charred timber. "Tough, ain't she?" He said, shaking it off and showing it to his friends. It was his coat.

"What's it made of?" Artemis asked, tactful as ever. Holly nudged him in the side with her elbow. Now wasn't the time for a science lecture, but Constantine obliged anyway.

"Several things: Nomex, kevlar, and a synthetic spider thread, amongst a few." He said. "My wife was a chemist, and developed this body armor for the military, but the government decided it was more expensive than the lives of their soldiers, so I got the only prototype. Damn effective, too. Saved my life on a number of occasions."

"And mine." Juliet piped up.

Constantine nodded, remembering the feel of a fifty caliber slug slamming into his back. Armor-piercing my ass. "And yours."

So what are you going to do now?" Butler asked. It was a question that no one wanted to ask, but was in the back of everyone's mind.

Constantine looked around at the wreckage. "First, I'm going to find my gun." Then he gave a sideways glance at the big door that led to his basement. "And I've got some living quarters in the basement, so I can stay down there until I can hire a contractor to rebuild."

"Nonsense." Artemis said, waving a thin, pale hand dismissively. "We have plenty of spare rooms in the south wing of the manor, you can stay with us." Holly smiled inwardly, despite the situation, at the use of "south wing." "But more importantly," Artemis continued. "What are you going to do about Severus? Are you going to go after your daughter?"

Constantine opened his mouth to respond, but shut it quickly again. He thought for a moment, but was interrupted.

"He's going to hunt down Severus and kill him." The Butlers and the Fowls spun around, and saw a lone figure coming out of the woods. He was tall, with broad shoulders, and a mop of black hair coming down in front of his eyes. He looked to be about twenty, he was wearing a black suit and white shirt, and under his arm he was carrying something long and broad, wrapped in a brown cloth. "At least," he said, continuing to stroll towards the group. "That's what the Constantine I knew would do, and mercilessly."

Butler and Juliet drew concealed pistols immediately, training their sights on the mysterious figure. In a flash, he threw up the brown cloth, and pulled a massive broadsword out from under his arm. It looked so big as to be cartoonish, but he seemed to wield it easily. "C'mon, there's no need to be like that." He was met with silence. Artemis instinctively put himself between the man and Holly. Holly rolled her eyes, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, thank you very much.

Juliet stared intently down her sights, the sword seemed to be covering a lot of vital points on the man, but that didn't mean he still couldn't be hit. He felt a light pressure on her left shoulder, and took a moment to glance over. Constantine was at her side, staring at the man with amusement. "Don't worry." He said, and squatted down, reaching his hand into the ashes, and pulling out his revolver, as if he already knew it was there. He spun it once in his left hand, and caught it perfectly on the handle. "He's mine."

He took off like a rocket towards the man, keeping low, but also keeping his eyes on the new figure. He loosed one shot, and the man seemed to block it with the broad side of his sword, which was at least a foot across. How he did it, Neither Juliet or Butler will ever know, but at the time they attributed it to dumb luck.

Constantine reached the man in a second, and the man in black was already swinging his sword at Constantine, who jumped over it. From mid-air he lashed out and kicked the man in the face with his heel. The man stumbled backwards a moment, and Constantine completed a back flip, and literally dived after him. The man caught his balance and pointed his sword downwards to stab Constantine, as Constantine pointed his gun up, between the man's legs. They both froze.

"I win." Constantine said grinning.

The man, also grinning, cocked an eyebrow at him. "Oh really?" Sometime during the fight, Artemis had noticed, he had re-gripped his sword closer to the hilt. Now that it was over, Artemis noticed that his hand wasn't anywhere on the handle or pommel, but in a circular disk embedded in the sword near the hilt. The man twisted his right hand, and with a metallic _chink, _the blade split open, and a machine-gun barrel popped out of one end, pointing right at Constantine's backside.

Constantine blinked. "Well, that's new." He indicated with his head where his gun was pointing. "I still think I win, though."

The man grinned wider, and with a twist of his wrist, the sword blade became whole again, and he stuffed it into the ground next to him. He helped Constantine to his feet, and the two greeted like good friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time, hugging and shaking hands. Eventually, Constantine led the man over to the very confused group.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet a very old friend of mine: The last of the Angels; Marcus the Chapel."

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	9. New Pieces

**I do not own Artemis Fowl **

Chapter 9

"Actually, I'm not an Angel, not anymore." Marcus said. He stood next to Constantine, similar, but also in sharp contrast to the man Juliet had come to know so well. They were the same height, and comparable builds, but Marcus' hair was black, and fell down in front of his eyes. There was also a huge difference in their smiles. Marcus' was wide, and endearing, but Constantine's was completely unabashed, shameless, stretching from ear to ear, and covering his whole face in lines like sunshine; his eyes reduced to slits, but still pouring out with emotion. Marcus's was endearing, like he wanted you to like him, but beyond that, there was nothing there. In fact, Juliet noticed, there was something inherently attractive about Marcus, just like Constantine, though Constantine radiated an honest quality that enhanced any physical beauty, maybe it had something to do with being an Angel.

"You certainly don't look like one." Holly commented. "For one, you don't have blonde hair. Constantine said you all had at least some blonde hair."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that. What happened?" Constantine said, eyeing the top of his friends head.

"Oh that, well," Marcus said, looking up, cross-eyed, at a couple strands of hair. "Over the last couple decades I've been slowly draining my body of any supernatural power." He shrugged. "I still have the physical strength that Pepper gave me, I can't do anything about that, but for the most part, I'm completely human now."

"Yes, a human with super strength, super speed, and immortality." Artemis said. Constantine snorted.

Marcus smiled sheepishly. "You noticed."

Artemis smile back his vampire grin. "There isn't much I don't."

"Not to sound like a dick, but why haven't you died yet?" Constantine asked.

"That was my next question." Artemis said.

Constantine's voice grew low and quiet. "When we run out of power, we die. That was always the rule."

Marcus leant against his sword, which was still dug into the ground, and sighed. "When we all split up, I really didn't know what to do with myself. About twenty years ago, I found God, and joined a monastery. Seemed like the right thing to do. Helping people and whatnot." He looked away. "Anyway, I figured it wouldn't be right to be a priest and keep my power, kinda like pissing in front of a nun, you know? So I resolved myself to be rid of it, any way I could, And drained myself, bit by bit, until there was nothing left. Apparently if you burn it away slowly, enough of it remains in your cells to keep you alive."

Constantine was thinking, biting his thumbnail. "I didn't know you could do that... Wait! You're a priest?" It seemed the impact of what Marcus said just hit him.

Butler seemed skeptical though. "What kind of priest carries a sword, particularly with a machine-gun inside of it?" He asked.

"All priests are soldiers of God." Marcus said.

"Not buying it." Butler said. "Why are you here, and why are you here armed so heavily?"

The question hung in the air like the peal of a bell, and Marcus hesitated before he answered.

"I'm carrying that for the same reason I'm here. Severus is on the move."

The statement laid in the air like a wet blanket thrown over a fire. Constantine immediately sobered up. Holly shifted uncomfortably next to Artemis, who fell silent. Butler looked away from Marcus to Constantine, and Juliet looked at the ground.

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"We're going to -" Marcus started, but Juliet cut him off.

"I wasn't asking _you. _No offense, but you're new here; Constantine's been on his own for years now, and you never bothered to show up. Not when he lost his memory, not when he needed your help. You may have some "hundred year history" or something, and I may not have known him before a little while ago, but I know one thing: He's changed a lot. Especially since you knew him. So quite frankly, this isn't your decision to make, and I don't want to hear what you have to say. I was asking Constantine." She finished in a huff, crossing her arms over her chest, and shifting a glare at Marcus to Constantine. Her face softened looking at him, and she waited for an answer.

Marcus fell silent immediately. Artemis and Holly looked at each other, neither knowing where the outburst had come from. Butler looked at his sister as if she were some kind of alien, and Constantine looked equal parts amused and touched. He sighed wearily before he answered.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Juliet, I really do," Constantine said. "but I'm too old to let stupid grudges fester, and this is a problem that should be handled by us. Marcus is right, we have to track to Severus, and we have to stop him. He's got this crazy idea in his head that the world is rotten" He had one hand at his side the other waving gently in the air as he spoke, looking for all the world like a tired composer directing a small orchestra through a moving low. "He wants to kill...everyone, so that he can build anew, and we cannot allow that." His hand dropped to his side, and silence took the group.

"Can he do it?" Artemis asked, after the silence had grown long enough to be awkward.

Constantine thought for a moment, sleepy eyes staring at the ground, his shoulders hunched, his head down. "I don't know," He said finally. "but I don't want to find out."

"So it's possible."

Constantine shrugged. "Anything is possible for people like us."

"You mean the Angels."

Constantine looked up finally, looking Artemis square in the eye. "No."

Artemis was about to ask what he meant when Juliet spoke up. "What do you mean: 'handled by us.'?"

"Marcus and I. This is something that has to be handled within the Angels. When one of us goes rogue, it's our job to stop him; mainly because no one else can." A beat passed before Juliet spoke up again

"How did you know?" Juliet asked.

"What?"

"Not you. Marcus, how did you know the Severus was going to be here? It all seems rather convenient that you just happened to show up at the right time. If there's one thing I've learned, it's not to believe in coincidence."

Marcus stayed silent for a minute. "I'm here," He said slowly. "Because Severus came to me first." He looked around at the group. "He came to my parish, and cornered me in the vestibule. He asked me the same things I'm sure he asked you. I won't go into detail, but I turned him down. He mentioned we would find you and recruit you if I accepted. I didn't figure the absence of my meager power would be enough to throw him off his plans."

"How'd you know he was here?" Artemis asked.

Marcus shrugged. "We have safe-houses all over the world. Constantine always liked Ireland." Constantine in agreement.

"How did you get that sword through customs?" Butler, this time.

"I didn't go through customs. I find – when traveling – illegal is the faster mode, or at least more accommodating.

"Constantine," Holly spoke up. "does your brother know about us?" Everyone but Marcus knew who "us" was. It wasn't much of a code, but it was effective.

Constantine thought for a moment. "No. He shouldn't, and I haven't told him anything."

Holly nodded. That was good at least.

Juliet walked up to Constantine, and looked into his blue eyes, and spoke softly. "What do you want me to do?"

Constantine looked back at her, his brow furrowed. He could barely meet her eye. "Nothing. Severus is too dangerous. Going up against him is going to be nothing like Kravchenko."

"And you're going after him yourselves?" Holly asked, incredulous.

"Don't you have faith in us?" Juliet asked, more quietly.

Constantine had no answer for her.

"This isn't about faith." Marcus said. "Severus is dangerous, mad, and more powerful than he ever was before. He won't hesitate to kill any of you. To be honest, us two are probably the only ones who can challenge him, and it could very well kill both of us."

"we're not babies, Constantine." Holly said, glaring at him. _I'm older than you, sonny. _Her stare told him.

"No but you're about to have one." Constantine said, his eyes mirroring the fervor of her stare. "Artemis is physically inept compared to us, Juliet.." He turned to her. "You're just too young and inexperienced. Severus has fought in more wars than I have teeth. The truth is Butler is the only one who can match Marcus or I, combine that with Artemis' brains and you might stand a chance against Severus."

He fell silent for a moment, then walked past them, to the metal door standing like a gleaming obelisk out of the ruins. "Quite frankly I don't want your help." He said eventually, standing in front of the door so that it's shadow bisected his figure, not looking at them. "You'll only get in my way."

"Conny..." Juliet spoke, her voice weak.

"Fine." Stated Artemis, brushing imaginary dirt off of his shirt. "We will just get out of your way then." He tried to make the words as biting as possible, but Constantine didn't respond. He silently put his hand on Holly's back, who, with one last look at the man standing at the doorway, turned and let him guide her away. Butler followed, and eventually so did Juliet. All of whom climbed silently into the Fowl Bentley, shut their doors with loud _thuck's, _and drove away.

Marcus watched his old friend stand at the entrance to the door, where both of them used to live and train half a century before. Before so tall and proud, sure of himself. Now, hunched over, arms hanging limply at his side. He walked over, picking his way through the rubble, until he stood behind Constantine. He put his hand on the his comrade's shoulder. "That was harsh." He said. It wasn't an accusation, or reprimand, but a statement of fact.

Constantine made no move to acknowledge or remove Marcus' hand, but it seemed to jolt him alive. He reached forward and pulled the door open. "It had to be done." Was all he gave by way of explanation, before he disappeared into the darkness, leaving Marcus at the open doorway.

Marcus glanced down at ground, before he followed his friend into his abode, and noticed a few wet spots, gleaming with freshness in the moonlight, right below where Constantine's head had been. He sighed, and stepped into the stairway. _She was right, _he thought, thinking back to the blonde-haired girl who had been there before. _You have changed. _He walked down into the hallway, and closed the door behind him, the metal on metal sound echoing into the night.

**Please Read and Review **

**Sorry it's been so long between updates, a lot has come up recently. **


	10. Time to go

**I do not own Artemis Fowl **

Chapter 10

The front doors at Fowl Manor have been through quite a lot over the centuries since Lord Hugo de Fole first built the mansion. They've withstood several wars, bombings, and sieges directed at the building. Most notably, when Archibald Fowl, in the 16th century, had the local priest killed, and the church burned to the ground, simply so that he could acquire the land around the church. He holed up inside his house, and withstood siege from the authorities for several days, before the front doors were finally brought down with a battering ram carried by 14 men, and he was carried off to jail to stand trial for his crimes. He was hung in Dublin within the week, and the Manor went to his nephew, Apollo Fowl, the direct ancestor of the Manor's current residents. Underground, however, the People had a different story to tell about Fowl Manor's front doors – involving a Troll, and a very large, very angry mud man.

At the moment the doors were undergoing a different kind of stress, that induced when the very angry younger sister of a very large mud man, was tasked with closing the door behind her.

"Juliet, Please." Artemis protested, frowning as the loud _bang _echoed across the otherwise silent hall. "Mother and Father are sleeping, and what's worse you might wake the twins." Holly silently winced at the thought of the twins up and bouncing off the walls this late. Or was it early? She felt her nerves were too frayed at the moment to try to figure it out.

"I'm sorry Artemis." She did look sorry. "It's just infuriating that he would treat us like that."

"It did seem rather brash of him." Holly agreed, one hand on her hip, the other holding Artemis' hand loosely.

"I don't think so." Butler said, crossing his arms. "I think he was trying to protect us."

"What do you mean?" Holly asked him.

"He's scared." Artemis answered for his manservant. "He tried to hide it, and he's usually better at masking his body language, but I think he was so afraid that he couldn't act it out properly." Holly looked at her husband, and noticed that Artemis' eyes were steeled, and his lips pursed. With quick, jerky movements, he took his hand from Holly's, and moved away from the group in the center of the entrance hall, towards a hidden door that lead to one of the manor's numerous parlors.

"What do you mean "scared"?" Juliet asked, following Artemis through into the parlor. Holly and Butler followed after her. Artemis was already standing at the wooden bar, without the lights on, uncorking a bottle of red wine. Warning bells went off in Holly's head, Artemis rarely drank, and never this late.

Artemis slowly poured himself a small glass as he responded to Juliet. "He's scared of his brother. Scared he might die." Artemis looked like he wanted to say something else, but didn't. Instead he just stared at the wall as he brought the crystal glass up to his lips, holding it daintily in impeccably manicured fingers.

"Then we should help him, right?" Juliet asked, looking to Artemis for instruction. When he said nothing, she continued. "I mean if it's that dangerous, then we should tell him that he needs our help-"

"No." Artemis said. "If he does not want my help, then I am not inclined to give it to him. I will not beg for someone to accept my help when they have made it clear they want none of it. If you wish to aid him, I will not stop you from trying, though Butler might. Good luck in convincing him to accept it."

Though Juliet made no move to act on the permission, nor sound to try to convince Artemis otherwise, and a silence fell upon the darkened room, as Artemis finished his wine.

"I'm going to bed." He said finally, and left the room. Holly rushed to follow him out. She had to stop as soon as she made it out into the foyer, as the bright light from the chandelier blinded her momentarily. By the time she regained her eyesight, Artemis was at halfway up the stairwell, his long, spindly legs taking them two at a time. She went up after him, which was a feat made considerably easier by her modified body, but he still made it to the top, and was halfway across the walkway that spanned the back wall of the entrance hall before she caught up with him.

"Artemis, wait!" She said, grabbing his slender hand. He rounded on her with surprising coordination, and she was taken aback. Not by his action, but by what she could see in his face, what only she, and maybe Butler, had ever seen in Artemis; those rare moments of vulnerability that shattered, not only his icy-cool exterior, but the inner wall that seemed to be built up around him even when he was sincere. The first time she saw it was only a flash in the Arctic, when they were trying to rescue his father, and he admitted his mistake in kidnapping her: his first regret. The second time came in a flash too, when she had shouted at him over Butler's body in the cryogenic van. Those first two times she barely recognized what she was seeing, and it never registered with her. The third time, however, she saw it for what it was, when she had nearly died in Hybras, and he saved her life, bringing her back from time. She saw, then, the very core of Artemis Fowl; the freezing ball of bad feeling that had built up throughout a lifetime of neglect, and that he never showed to anyone. She was seeing that again, now, and she understood what it meant: he had been hurt.

Without a word, she embraced him, trying to force every ounce of warmth and passion she could through her body to his, to melt that ball of ice that had taken home in him. He hesitated for a moment, with his hands on the back of her shoulders, and then he returned her embrace fully, nestling his cheeks in her hair.

"I'm sorry." He seemed to be struggling to find the words. "I'm not very good at talking about feelings, particularly mine. I've read that many women like men who can talk and be open about what they feel, but that's just not me. I've hid things all my life, and -"

"Artemis," Holly finally said, taking her head out of his chest. "Don't worry about any of that. I love you, Arty. _You. _Do you know what that means? It means that when I got into this relationship, when I decided to have your child, when I decided to marry you, I knew exactly who you were, who you are. I love you for all of you. The workaholic who stays up till 3 in the morning because he's almost finished a new invention, the possessive megalomaniac, and even the impassionate scientist who never talks about his feelings, because that makes the rare times when I do get to see inside that big head of yours all the more special. I'd never ask you to change who you are, because that would be admitting that I don't absolutely love who you are. Do I think it'd be good for you if you were a little more open? A little more reserved? Hell yes, I think it'd be wonderful, but I'd never expect you to change. Especially not for me."

Artemis looked at her as she ended her speech. Pondering what she had said as he looked into her eyes; her own, and his own staring back at him. "I do want to change. From a psychological point of view, holding in feelings is not healthy."

She smiled at him. "That's another reason I love you."

"What's that?"

"Despite your age, you're not a petulant child, insistent in his own greatness to the point of idiocy." She smiled at him.

He smiled back. "I have you to thank for that, and I would never insist on my own greatness, it speaks for itself."

Holly rolled her eyes, but said nothing, as both her and Artemis noticed someone else coming down the hallway towards them: It was Angeline Fowl, dressed elegantly in a blue nightdress.

"Is something wrong, Arty?" She asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "I heard the door slam, and raised voices."

"I'm sorry, Mom, that was Juliet." Artemis said, taking Holly's arm in hers.

"What happened?"

"There was an accident at Constantine's house, a fire." Artemis said smoothly. He didn't like lying to his mother, but there were some things she didn't need to know. And besides, it wasn't entirely a lie – there _was_ a fire, of a sort. "We've had a bit of a rough night."

"Is he alright?" She asked, concerned.

"Yes, He wasn't inside at the time, and the fire didn't harm anything valuable. Enough of his house is still intact for him to live in till it's fixed as well."

"Oh, well, that's good." She said, turning around, She started to head back to her room when she stopped. "Then why was Juliet mad?"

Artemis nearly let his exasperation show. "What do you mean?"

"Don't get that way with me, young man, I've been your mother to long to not know when you're lying to me." Artemis was always slightly scared of his mother when she got like this. Holly was simply impressed.

"I'm not lying."

"Then you're not telling the whole truth. So tell me: Why was Juliet mad?" There was a tone of finality in her voice, and Artemis sighed.

"Constantine may be in trouble with some people of an...unsavory nature. We offered to help, but he made it clear he didn't need, or want our help. Juliet was mad because she felt slighted." Artemis didn't bother adding that he felt slighted as well.

"So you gave up?" Angeline asked, looking at her son skeptically.

"What do you mean?"

"Well if he said he didn't want your help, then he must be scared. Didn't you press the issue?"

"Well-"

"Arty," She said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You know how much I hate you constantly putting yourself in danger, but your friend needs your help."

Artemis thought for a moment, and Holly could almost see the gears turning at lightning speed in his head, processing everything his Mother had told him. He swore under his breath, then turned around, heading back down the stairs two at a time, calling Juliet's name. Holly watched him go, surprised, then turned to her mother-in-law, who was smirking.

"He's smart, that son of mine." She said, looking at Holly. "But he's not exactly wise yet. He's too young for wise." With that, she turned from Holly, and walked back to her room, blue satin nightgown billowing behind her.

Constantine and Marcus had both been silent for a while when their sensitive hearing picked up someone banging on the large metal door that led to the basement. Without a word, Constantine stood up from the blue foam mat where he had been stretching in the gym, and picked his gun up off a small table by the wall. He glanced at Marcus, who picked up his sword, and balanced it on his shoulder.

Constantine led the way into the hall, and cautiously made his way up the stairs, his revolver held loosely in front of him. When he reached the top, he punched a code into a spall number pad on the wall next to the doorway, and a view from a fish-eye security camera came up on the screen above it. When he saw who it was, he relaxed, and motioned to Marcus to stand down. He stuffed his gun in the back of his pants as he opened the door, and was abruptly punched in the face by Juliet.

He fell down the stairs in a raucous cacophony of the sounds of him tumbling, accompanied by the echo of Marcus laughing so hard he was nearly doubled over.

"I think I may have deserved that." He said once the sound and calmed a bit.

"Ya think?" Juliet called, still standing righteously at the top of the stairs. This set off another round of laughter by Marcus, which was quickly silenced by a wave of Juliet's finger. "Artemis gave me the duty of telling you that we ARE going to help you; whether you like it or not. Your brother isn't just threatening you, he's threatening all of us and, quite frankly, we take offense to that."

Constantine, still lying on his basement floor, sighed and covered his eyes with his hand. "And there's nothing I can say to change your mind?"

Juliet shook her head. "Nope."

Constantine was silent for a moment, then held up a finger in the air. "One week. We leave in one week. Use that time to train, prepare, pack, whatever."

Juliet was struck for a moment by the quickness with which Constantine gave in, but nodded. "Okay!" Then she went off to tell Artemis, Holly, and her big brother.

Marcus, chuckling, leaned over Constantine. "You never could resist the pretty ladies." He said with a grin. Constantine rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, dickweed, and help me up."

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've had exams, but I should be updating more regularly now!**

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**Happy Birthday to Dylan! **


	11. Old Friends

**I do not own Artemis Fowl**

Chapter 11

The next few days went excruciatingly slow for Artemis. He spent most of his time honing his martial arts with Butler, who had him focusing on Wing-Chung and Akido in the manor's dojo, but between hour-long bouts he spent his time researching the Angels. There wasn't much to be found without prior knowledge of their existence, but when you factored them into the equation, certain things would pop out: unexplained deaths and disappearances, certain wars and revolutions that shouldn't have been won, certain disasters attributed to industrial accidents that had gaps in their explanations.

Artemis sat at his desk the second day into the allotted week, rubbing the bridge of his nose, annoyed that he couldn't talk to Constantine himself about these incidents. He had gone to Constantine's house the afternoon after Juliet, only to be met by an entire construction crew in the process of clearing the debris, and Marcus.

"Sorry, Artemis, but Constantine's training, no visitors for another three days." He said, when Artemis had enquired as to where Constantine was. "The truth is," He explained, after Artemis had asked why Constantine was in isolation. "Both of us are out of shape, and Constantine more than I. We are both out of the Jumper serum that accelerates our healing process, Constantine's last vial burned in the fire, and we don't know if Severus has any. Either way, we're going to have to rely mostly on the strength of our own bodies to kill him, and neither of us are ready or able to do that right now." Despite the admission of vulnerability, Artemis noted a tone of pride in the priest's voice.

"Does Constantine know that you intend to kill his brother?" Artemis asked. Marcus remained silent, watching the workers clear away the rubble.

"He knows what needs to be done." He said finally. "I have to get ready as well." He said, turning towards the metal doorway that the men worked around. "I'll see you around, Artemis."

Back in his study, Artemis rubbed the bridge of his nose. "How's the research going?" Holly asked, walking in with a glass of water. Artemis had told her that, under no circumstances, would he allow her to go with them, because he would not risk the health and well-being of his wife and child; she knew he had a point, but she didn't take it well anyway.

"It would be a lot easier if there were even even trace amounts of evidence pointing to the Angel's involvement." He said. "As it is, there is nothing directly pointing to them, other than a few unexplained occurrences that could have something to do with them, maybe."

"Why are you even doing this?" She asked, sitting on the corner of his desk. "Surely Constantine would tell you everything you want to know about them."

"I don't think he would," Artemis said, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his temples. "Everything that was necessary, yes. I don't believe he would ever intentionally put our lives in danger, but I do not believe he would tell me everything that I want to know, he's too tight-lipped about his past. Not that I particularly blame him." He added. "Besides, I like doing research, and when going up against an enemy of this caliber, I prefer to know everything I possibly can beforehand, without prior knowledge I just feel -"

"Helpless?" Holly asked, taking a sip of ice water in the lull in conversation that followed, looking out the window opposite the desk.

"Anxious." Artemis finished. There was another moment of silence between them. "Have you ever heard of the Marshall Islands?"

Holly thought for a moment. "I remember a bit from my mud-studies class. It was the sight of nuclear testing, right?"

Artemis nodded. "Correct, by the Americans. It was also the sight of one of the largest nuclear tests performed by the Americans, a fifteen megaton explosion. A mistake, by all accounts, what was supposed to be inert, fodder uranium, wasn't."

"And?"

"It was also the sight of the Angel's base of operations, according to what little Constantine has told me."

Holly looked at him, curious. "So what's left of it?"

"Nothing but a crater, the entire island was decimated by the bomb."

Holly shook her head. "Ghastly things, those. You mud men discover one of the sources to near-unlimited energy, and the first thing you do with it is invent new ways to kill each other."

Artemis spread his hands away from each other. "I cannot defend the past actions of my species, except to say that some of us are trying, in our own way, to make things right."

Holly rolled her eyes. "A day late and a dollar short, if you ask me."

Artemis nodded. "Quite possibly."

A light started flashing on a small device next to Artemis' computer. Holly looked at it quizzically. "Didn't you install that to receive calls from me from Haven?" Artemis nodded, punching a few keys into his keyboard, closing or minimizing the windows that were open on his screen. "Then who's calling now?"

Artemis checked his watch. "Foaly, I hope. I sent him an email saying to call today, though he is early."

Holly jumped off her perch on the desk. "You told him to call?"

"You have to talk to him sometime, Holly." Artemis said, his finger hovering over the 'receive' button on the small black machine.

Holly glared at him, but eventually relented. "Fine." Was all she said as she took a place behind Artemis, looking over his shoulder. He hit the button.

The image of a stressed, but cheerful, centaur was received and put up on Artemis' screen from several thousand miles beneath the Earth's surface. Who says you can't get good reception in the crust?

"Well if it isn't my favorite couple under the earth." Foaly said, his fingers loudly beating a nervous tattoo into his desk.

"Hello Foaly." Artemis said, nodding at the light winking next to the camera embedded into his computer screen.

"Centaur." Holly spat.

Now, it would not be inaccurate to say that Artemis was not a "people person". As good at psychology as he may be, and despite being an expert at reading body language; tact, social grace, and charm were not traits that he possessed in liberal amounts. However, even he could sense that the tension in the room was thicker than a goblins skull, and that – just like a goblin greeting – there was a lot of shouting about to go down, so he did what any sensible person would do in the situation: he removed himself from the situation and let them have at it.

Artemis waited outside his study for ten minutes, during which the "conversation" quickly turned into a shouting match that Artemis could hear through his double-thick oak doors, a feat he found impressive.

Eventually, he left them in his study and went back to the manor's dojo to continue his training with Butler. After an hour of attempting to beat on, and being beat on by, his giant manservant, he took a break and headed back to his study with a towel draped over his shoulder. He knocked on the thick oak door and put his ear to the wood, waiting for an answer.

"Artemis?" Holly didn't seem angry, that was a good sign, at least.

"Can I come in?" He called through the door. In answer, she opened the door for him.

"Of course."

Artemis glowered at her, he didn't like being talked to like he wasn't the smartest person in the world. Then Holly did something odd, she looked him once over, and bit her bottom lip, letting a breath of air out through her nose without looking him in the eye. Artemis processed this in a second, and when he took into account his own appearance, he made an inference about what it was doing to his wife. He said, however, nothing; mainly because the look on her face was doing similar things to him.

"C'mon," She said, grabbing the chest of his tank top, jerking him out of a quick reverie and jerking her head at the computer. "Someone wants to talk to you."

"Oh my god, mud boy, are you actually sweating?" Foaly said, as Holly dragged Artemis in front of the computer. Artemis brushed sweat-drenched hair out of his eyes and gave the centaur a skeptical look.

"You sound surprised, Foaly. A genius like you should know that physical activity stimulates brain growth, then again I have always been the smarter of us two."

Foaly was about to retort when Holly cut him off. "I've explained to Foaly the situation, but he's not sure there is much he can do at this point."

Foaly nodded. "Sorry, Artemis, but with the little amount of information available, there's not much I can do. I can maybe provide some equipment – no weapons, mind you – but old communications equipment and the like. Being on the council has its perks, more freedom is not one of them. They don't seem to trust me very much, for some reason." He stroked the tuft of hair jutting from his chin. "I haven't the faintest idea why."

"I'm sure."

"I'm sure I don't have to point out that you're not exactly batting 1000 in the trust department either, eh Artemis? And look where you ended up."

"How do you even know that metaphor?"

Foaly shrugged. "I tap into American cable."

"So we can add theft to your growing list of crimes, then?"

"Technically, that's all I was ever guilty of. Well, that and occasional jaywalking. It's not so bad as, say, kidnapping? Eh? Mud Boy?"

"Possibly not, but as you, oh honorable donkey, so duly pointed out: look where I ended up."

"Well why don't you take -"

"Guys!" Holly cut in, slamming her hand on the table, making the screen skip.

"Holly, please." Artemis said, rubbing the side of his modem. "The computer is sensitive, and it doesn't take much to ruin one of these calls."

Holly nearly punched him.

Then she rethought the "nearly" bit.

"Don't you dare turn into Foaly." She said, her face inches from his. This close, however, she could smell him, her husband, father of her child. She could smell the sweat that was just starting to stop dripping off of his frame, and it did things to her that she wouldn't talk about in public. She could barely hear Foaly's protests. "I have to go, Foaly. We'll talk later." And without turning from Artemis, she cut the feed. "I need my man right now." She nearly whispered to Artemis.

Artemis gulped. Her behavior was making him nervous.

Then it wasn't.

The next two days passed quickly, with nothing of event happening, but Artemis was still kept busy. Between Butler, Holly, and now doing research in his spare time with Foaly, it was a wonder the two days went by quickly. On top of that, despite Artemis' mother intuitively telling Myles and Beckett not to bother him, Butler, Juliet, or Holly during this time, he still found time to read them a bedtime story (The Cask of Amontillado and The Sign of the Four) every night, even though he couldn't always make it to family meals. On the fourth day, he was told by Butler to rest to give his body time to recover, so when the doorbell rang, he didn't feel inclined to stand up from the couch and answer it; instead he sent Juliet.

A minute later, she could hear her returning, with another set of footsteps following behind. It must be Constantine, he thought, and he finally stood up. When Constantine did appear behind Juliet, Artemis was taken aback. He had ballooned, muscles popping out beneath his black t-shirt, shoulders several inches wider, a determined look in his eyes.

"Is Butler around?" He asked.

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	12. Stories to Tell

**I do not own Artemis Fowl**

Chapter 12

Standing facing each other in the front lawn, Constantine and Butler looked – for all they were worth – like david and goliath. Though Constantine had bulked up considerably, he was still no match for Butler's sheer height and mass, but still he stood cooly staring down the manservant, with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He had stripped down to a black wife-beater, revealing his arms and shoulders, a mess of scars and pock-marks, and the skin seemed so taut against the muscle that Artemis could actually see the striations in the muscle fibers at a distance.

When Constantine came back to Fowl Manor he had asked for Butler, and when he found Butler he asked for a sparring match. Butler agreed immediately, taking Constantine's increased bulk in stride. He had asked Constantine if he wanted it in the dojo, but Constantine declined, saying it was too small. He didn't say any more than that, and was now standing in front of the giant, stretching his neck, and bouncing his shoulders.

Butler took a standard fighting pose, his body turned sideways towards his target, his left hand forward, and his right across his chest. Constantine, in a turn from tradition, didn't raise his arms, but kept them loose at his sides, twisting them to stretch out his shoulder. Without taking his eyes off of Butler, he started bouncing on the balls of his feet, rising a few inches off the ground with every bounce.

Butler didn't need to ask if Constantine was ready, the determined look on his face was enough to know, and he struck.

Constantine caught the punch.

He didn't stop it with his hand, but in the same moment that Butler threw a straight right hand, Constantine turned, let the arm slide past his body, wrapped his own arms around it, and planted his feet. In another moment he twisted, put his shoulder into Butler's armpit, and heaved the 8 foot tall behemoth over his 6 foot frame, sending Butler crashing into the dirt.

Nothing was said, nothing could be said. No one in the Fowl's yard could believe that Butler could be tossed around like a toddler by anything less than a bull ape, or possibly an elephant; but there was Constantine, grinning down at the Eurasian bodyguard, lazily scratching his chest with one hand, the other in his pocket.

But Butler stood up, showing that nothing was hurt but his pride. He grinned at his opponent. "All that extra bulk has made you slower, I nearly got you with that."

Constantine's hand stopped scratching, and he grinned wider at Butler. "You don't miss a thing, do you?"

Butler shifted his weight, and hunched back, lowering his center of gravity; his hands were open now, each one about the size of Constantine's head. "Never."

He struck again, this time faster than Constantine could dodge, but he still managed to block it, and weave out of the way before another crashing hand replaced the spot where his head would have been. They traded blocked blows for a minute, but Butler wasn't used to fighting someone of this strength, speed, and skill, and a shot to the gut from Constantine threw him off balance. Constantine took advantage of the lull in the action, and ducked under Butler's right arm to get behind him. He simultaneously grabbed the arm, and kicked Butler in a nerve behind the knees, bringing him to the floor.

Holding Butler's right arm but the wrist, he caught a swinging blow from Butler's left and pulled both of them back behind the manservant, putting his right foot against his spine.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Marcus said, startling Holly, Juliet, and Artemis, who were all transfixed on the match.

"Yeah," Juliet said. "What the hell did you do to him?"

Marcus cocked an eyebrow at her. "I didn't do anything but return him to the way he was before he retired. The Constantine you see now is the same one I knew twenty years ago."

"But how'd you do it that quick?" Holly blurted out.

Artemis, who noticed that Marcus was similarly bulked up under his suit, answered for him. "It's your regenerative abilities, isn't it?" He said. "Because of how quickly you heal, the muscle fibers are able to heal, and hypertrophy occurs almost immediately, the two of you can become several times stronger in a matter of days. Couple that with your already higher-than-proportionate strength and either one of you could easily be stronger than Butler, though not as bulky."

Marcus nodded. "Spot on, mop-top," Artemis brushed a loose strand of black hair and glared at the man. "But let's watch the fight, shall we?"

The group turned their attention back towards the match, where Butler was still straining to get out of the hold, and Constantine, by the looks of it, was straining to contain him. Constantine still held Butler's arms behind him, and both of their faces were beet-red from the strain. Constantine's face was particularly contorted, and the tendons in his neck looked ready to pop out of the skin, and a spiderweb of veins was bulging in his skin underneath his scars and tank top. Butler's brow was furrowed, his jaw was set, and his teeth were gritted, as he tried to use every ounce of his considerable bulk to stand back up, this had descended from a fight to a strength contest.

With a loud ripping noise, Butler wrenched his right arm free of Constantine's, leaving the smaller man holding nothing but the remains of the larger's shirt sleeve. As Butler swung the free arm back around to knock Constantine down, the immortal jumped and, using Butler's head as a podium, flipped over the giant. He skidded on his feet for a moment, and in that moment Butler dived after him.

Constantine barely managed to dodge the kick, but he blocked the next punch and countered with his own which Butler swatted aside. The two traded a few punches and as many kicks, none of which hit their target, before they split apart. Each man was breathing heavily, and eyeing the other one carefully.

This fight was markedly different from their first sparring match, before the siege on Kravchenko's compound. During that one, Constantine was bouncing around, trying to wear Butler down, and slip in between the guard of a bigger, stronger – and possibly more skilled – man. Here though, Constantine was standing on level ground with the giant, eyeing him down with as much confidence as David had with all the Almighty's providence behind him.

Constantine started bouncing on the balls of his feet, like a boxer, and he grinned at Butler. He started shuffling backwards, they way Muhammed Ali would ten seconds before he knocked Joe Frasier off the mat, and when he got within arms reach of Butler, the giant struck at him. In a flash, Constantine redirected the strike and retaliated, hitting Butler square in the gut. He hit Butler three more times before he fell to the ground. Constantine remained standing over him, still bouncing.

Butler managed to sit up, but looked groggy. With a quick movement he swept his arm out at Constantine's legs, and though he didn't knock him over, it did throw off his timing, causing him to stumble. In an impressive display of acrobatics, Butler jumped up to take the advantage he now had, he attacked Constantine in a flurry of jabs. A few were blocked successfully, but a few more landed, leaving Constantine dazed, as Butler finished his attack with a Tai Kwon Do tornado kick.

The kick landed like a bulldozer thrown off the Empire State Building, and everyone in the clearing immediately thought that Butler had gone too far. Artemis was especially worried when Constantine's eyes rolled up to the back of his head as he closed them, and he started to fall forward. He was about to shout something, and Marcus looked ready to run forward when – about halfway through the fall – Constantine's eyes snapped open about halfway down, and he put forward his hands, turning the fall into a forward hand spring.

He stuck the landing and assumed an immediate fighting pose, glaring at Butler, who stared back with equal ferocity.

Suddenly, Constantine started coughing, and then kept coughing. He fell to his knees and covered his mouth, and when he brought his hand away, it was stained with blood.

"Conny!" Juliet shouted, rushing to his side.

Marcus swore under his breath, Following her at a slower pace

Butler immediately dropped his arms and ran to Constantine's side as well.

Only Artemis and Holly had no idea what was going on.

"What in the name of f- God is going on?" Holly asked as she and Artemis hurried behind the group. Butler was helping Constantine – who looked ghostly pale – to his feet, and Marcus had stripped to his pants and was holding his white shirt to Constantine's mouth. As he coughed, blood blossomed on the virgin cloth.

"It looks like tuberculosis, or some other degenerative lung disease." Artemis said, as Constantine had another hacking fit.

"Right again, mop-top." Marcus said. "Pity it had to act up now" He mumbled to no one in particular. Butler and Juliet said nothing.

"Lung disease?" Holly asked, looking concerned. "I thought you couldn't get sick."

"I can't," Croaked Constantine, wiping the blood from his mouth with a free hand. "catch diseases. This one, however, was a special gift from dear old dad."

"It's genetic" Breathed Artemis. "So no matter how much you heal, it keeps recurring."

Constantine nodded. "Sorry, Butler." He said, his voice seeming a little stronger. He tried to smile at the giant, but it looked more like a grimace. "Looks like we'll have to postpone our match for today."

"You need rest." Marcus told him. "Let's get you back to the house, I told you you shouldn't fight him right after training for that long, but no, God forbid you ever listen to me."

"I never listen to you because you're always wrong."

"Do you need any help getting back to your place?" Artemis asked.

"No, I shouldn't." Constantine said, he seemed to be able to stand on his own now. "But I would appreciate it if you came back with me. I have something to give you."

This took Artemis by surprise, he had hoped to use the chance to question Constantine about the Angels, to try to gain some more useful information that he already had, he hadn't expected to be invited along.

"Alright, I'll get my jacket." He said, and walked briskly back into the manor.

When he came back out, Constantine was already in his car, the Fleetwood this time, with the engine started. He inquired as to where Marcus was, and Constantine told him that they had come separately of each other, and Marcus already went back to the house. It was about then that Artemis realized he had never been in a car with Constantine in the driver's seat. He soon realized why.

A normal drive from Fowl Manor to Constantine's house took about 10 minutes, mainly because of winding forest roads and low speed limits. Constantine made it in about 4.

Once they stopped, Artemis tried to remind himself that, really, he should be used to this right now – what with all the times he had been in a shuttle with Holly piloting; but he was having trouble as he was also trying to unstick himself from the leather seats of the vehicle, so that he could get out of the car.

Constantine had amazingly already hired a contractor and construction crew to rebuild his house for him, evidenced by the giant frame that had been erected, with insulation and a few walls already being installed, and the troupe of jean, t-shirt, and hard-hat clad men who were crawling around the entire site.

"They put that up awfully fast." Artemis commented.

"They should've, I payed them a lot to do it, and possibly some extra to ignore certain red tape." Constantine said.

"Why pay them extra to do it this fast?"

Constantine thought for a moment, not taking his eyes of his soon-to-be house. "I want a home for my daughter to come back to. Not a basement. Speaking of which, I'm going to remodel the basement. Put in a play room, make it more kid-friendly."

"You think we're going to be able to get her back that easily?" Artemis asked.

Constantine sighed. "No, Artemis. I don't think it's going to be easy, I don't think it's going to be easy at all. But at one point I was a father, and a husband.. and it was taken away from me. Now I have a chance to get part of that back," Constantine looked Artemis dead in the eyes. "And no one is going to stop my daughter from coming back home. Even if I have to die to make it happen."

Artemis, seeing the look in his eyes, and searching his own feelings as to his future child believed him beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Constantine closed his eyes and turned away from the construction, walking over to a oak tree jutting out of his yard. "That brings me to something I wanted to talk to you about, Artemis. Something I want you to do for me."

Artemis followed him over to the tree. "What is it?" He asked as Constantine slumped down against the wood. Artemis followed suit as he explained.

"I met with my lawyer yesterday, and I wrote my will. If I die, and I do think I may die on this little venture of mine, as very well Marcus might,"

Artemis was chilled by the line this conversation was taking. And he noticed Constantine brush away at the hair behind his ear. As he did that, Artemis noticed that more of his hair had darkened, moving up the side of his head in a ill-boding, creeping way.

"If I am to die," Constantine continued. "Everything that I own will go to my daughter. However, she is too young to legally control it. I want you, Artemis, to act as a trustee."

Artemis was taken aback by this offer. "You realize I am a thief, right? You really want to trust me with such a large estate?"

Constantine smiled. "You _were _a thief, Artemis. I would trust you with my life."

He grew quiet then, and they both simply rested against the trunk of the tree. The sun beating down from the blue sky, it's heat abated only by the gentle breeze from the east. The only sounds were the steady beat of construction from the house, constantly permeated by the rustling of the leaves in the trees. A music of white noise and silence. Artemis wanted to speak, to ask about Constantine's past, but was afraid to break the majesty of the moment, so he simply enjoyed the silence of his friend's company.

His first friend, Artemis pondered, who was remotely human, of the same gender, and didn't work for him. His mother would say he was "growing up". Holly would say he was "becoming normal, for once". He didn't really care, either way. He just knew he enjoyed the feeling.

After ten minutes of sitting in the sun, during which Artemis felt himself drift off once or twice, and was sure Constantine did too, constantine suddenly sat straight up.

"Geez, I completely forgot." He said, standing up, chuckling.

"What is it?"

But Constantine ran off without answering into the half-constructed house, leaving Artemis sitting underneath a tree, slightly bemused.

When Constantine returned a minute later, he was holding a fully pressed black suit and white shirt on a hanger.

Artemis smiled as he stood up. "I have a suit, Constantine. Several, actually."

"Not like this, you don't." He handed it to Artemis, who felt the material.

"What cloth is this? It feels like silk."

"It is silk. With kevlar woven into the chest and back, and nomex woven down the sleeves and interwoven with the kevlar in the back. Bullet proof at small calibers, and fire retardant, but it breathes as much as any athletic wear, and specially tailored to give the wearer the same range of motion."

"Which would come in handy on a mission."

"Exactly." Constantine smiled. "I know how you like your suits, so I modified one of my old ones to fit you."

Artemis smiled, genuinely. "Thank you, Constantine."

"No problem." Constantine's beamed at him.

Then, for a second, his gaze flicked off into the forest, and he turned back towards the house, where Marcus was coming out of what would become the doorway. "I'm going to go for a walk in the woods, ok?" Artemis sensed something was up, but said nothing. "Marcus will give you all the information you need." He said, and walked away from him.

Artemis didn't even bother asking how Constantine knew. "Genii." He said.

Even from behind, Artemis could see the smile spreading across Constantine's face, who waved at him without turning around. "Always, mate."

Constantine picked his way through the trees and the undergrowth until he came to a large, moss-covered rock. He smiled at it. "Fancy seeing you here." He said, his mind quickly flashing on the fact that if anyone were watching they would think him mad.

Then, they would probably think themselves mad when a small, nimble-looking fairy with mechanical wings shimmered into sight perched atop the boulder. "How you always manage to find me I'll never know." Willow Berry said, grinning at her friend.

Constantine winked. "Trade secret." He said.

"I see," She said back, then she jerked her head towards Constantine's house. "Getting some remodeling done?"

"Yeah," Constantine grinned. "You should have been here for the demolition. Very flashy."

Willow rolled her eyes. Then looked at Constantine with concern. "You and the Fowls seem to be planning something. What's going on?"

"How long have you been topside?" Constantine asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"I bullied Foaly into giving me a pass last night, was on the first shuttle up this morning, don't deflect. Is something going on?"

"There is a mission, in preparation." Constantine conceded. He went on to tell her about his brother's attack, his daughter, and his dead wife, but he went further than that. He shared his fears, his worries, his concerns. His elation at the thought of getting his daughter back, his nightmare that she might have to grow up without him. Things he hadn't shared with anyone.

When he was done with the story, Willow swore. "Do you need any help?" She asked.

Constantine took a deep breath. "No." He averted his eyes from her gaze. "You'll be in too much danger, you have your brother to look after."

"What about Artemis? Doesn't he have to look after Holly?"

Constantine narrowed his eyes. "How did you – ?"

"Look, I may be out of the loop, but I'm not so stupid as to believe that goblin dung story about her sick aunt under the Americas. I took what I knew and put two and two together. They're married aren't they?" She plowed on. "That's why you couldn't have me over last week, that was the big event you were telling me about."

Constantine looked down. "Yes." He conceded.

Willow looked hurt. "Why didn't you tell me any of this? Why did you have to keep it from me?"

Constantine didn't know what to do, so he just shrugged. "It wasn't my story to tell."

Willow slumped over. "And this is another one of those things, isn't it? It's not my story, so I shouldn't get involved."

Constantine stepped over to her, putting his hands on his shoulders. "There's more too it than that." He said, trying to get her to look at him. "Having you in my life, even for this short while, has been wonderful. You're so much like me, so strong and independent, but so loving, and concerned, that it gives me hope. I couldn't bear to have your life taken away, especially when you have so much left to give. But on top of that, Severus, my brother, hates all humans. He thinks they're the lowest forms of life. He doesn't yet know about the People, but if he did, I can't say he wouldn't try to wipe them out as well. He's mad, Willow, and very disturbed. Holly's not coming, so we don't have to hide her, but I don't think we could hide you from him, not in any way that would be useful to us."

Constantine squeezed his eyes shut. "Ah... I just sounded like a royal ass, didn't I?"

Willow chuckled. "Only a little." She sniffed. "I just can't help but shake the feeling that this is the last time I'm gonna see you."

Constantine smiled softly. "You'll see me again. Even if I don't make it back. I'll be right around the corner, just out of reach. Down the block a bit. Lounging on the beach. Under a tree. This life, or the next. You'll see me again. I promise."

Willow looked at him pleadingly. Constantine rolled his eyes. "I also promise I will do my best to make it back, whatever the odds." He smiled. "Better?"

She nodded, then looked at him for a moment, and kissed him.

Constantine was taken aback, speechless. Willow stood up on the rock and giggled. "Now you have to come back." She said, powering up her wings. "So we can talk about that." She waved at him, and shielded, flying off into the sky.

Constantine stood there, aghast, silently waving at the sky. Then he smiled. "Yeah, I guess I do." He said to himself.

He was so shocked by what had just happened, he didn't notice Marcus come trudging through the brush behind him. "What do you do?" He asked, examining a tear in his sleeve left by a wayward branch.

Constantine spun around. "I... look stunning in black." He said plainly.

Marcus stared at him. "Who were you talking to?" He asked.

"Myself..of sorts."

"Right." Marcus diverted his attention away from his sleeve. "Mind telling me what's going on here?"

"I was walking, and talking. Then you showed up, now were standing and talking."

Marcus covered his eyes with his hands. "Not what I meant, smartass."

"Then what did you mean, dumbass?"

Marcus rolled his eyes. "If you were here talking to yourself than I'm the pope."

Constantine shrugged. "Your excellency..." Marcus flipped him the bird.

"There's more than that, though. It's about Holly..." Constantine stiffened. "She's not exactly human, is she?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me, porcupine. I have just as big a brain as you. The things she does, some things she says, it doesn't add up. I noticed it when we first met but it seemed more pronounced today."

Constantine fell silent.

"So you wanna tell me what's going on?"

Constantine shrugged again. "It's not my story to tell, man. I'm sorry."

Marcus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, porcupine. I just hope you know what we're doing."

Constantine through his arm around his old friend's shoulders. "Do we ever, Louie?"

Marcus rolled his eyes at the nick name he had ever since he and Constantine went to see _Casablanca _when it first came out. "No."

"Exactly."

**Whew, long chapter!**

**Please Read and review! **

**Sorry it's taken so long to update! I love all the support I get from you guys!**


	13. Murphy's Law

**I do not own Artemis Fowl**

Chapter 13

"This is what I've been able to come up with based on the information you gave me." Foaly said to the group gathered in Artemis' study. It was everyone who would be involved in the hunt for Severus, sans Marcus. The group had no wish to involve one more human in the affairs of the People. They had gathered the day before they were supposed to leave to draw up a plan, Constantine would relay it to Marcus, who had been sent – to his displeasure – to get some supplies, later.

"How much information did you give him?" Constantine asked Artemis.

"Marcus emailed me pretty extensive digital files, I edited out some of the superfluous or unnecessary pages and emailed that to Foaly."

"Which still left me with about a terabyte of info." Foaly muttered.

"I had faith you'd figure it out. If you think I was wrong..." Artemis sneered. Constantine laughed like a schoolboy who had been told a particularly inappropriate fart joke.

"Did you-?"

"Yes."

"Are you gonna-?"

"Of course." Artemis nodded.

Holly rolled her eyes at the duo's in-synch geek-speak. They had been doing it since the day before, it was cute at first, now it was just getting annoying.

Foaly cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt the budding bro-mance, but the Genius has life-saving plans here."

Constantine chuckled. "I'm sorry, Foaly, go on."

Foaly stopped. "Was that an apology? Holy Frond, I'd almost forgotten what one felt like."

"Foaly," Artemis said, tapping the wooden armrest on his chair to gain the centaur's attention. "any day now."

"Oh, right." Foaly hit a few keys and a giant map of the world was projected on the wall opposite Artemis' desk, instead of his face. "From the digging I've done through the files, I've located several facilities throughout the surface which had served as bases, safe-houses, and armories for the "Angels", as you call them." About 40 red beacons appeared on he army-green map. "I narrowed the search by which ones still had power." Foaly's head popped up again on a an insert-screen in the corner of the map. "I assume you're looking for someone who's alive?"

Constantine nodded.

"Alrighty then!" Foaly had gone through a faze where he watched nothing but Jim Carrey movies, and he built an entire website to his dedication.

A moment later, about 15 of the red beacons had disappeared.

"That's still too many, Foaly" Artemis said, before Constantine could speak up.

"I realized that. That's why I did a search for who now owns each location, and cut out major electronics suppliers, Factories, and the like." Twenty more disappeared. Two red lights blinked near Beijing, three more blinked in Australia, South Africa, and Brazil. "These two," A red circled appeared around the two in Beijing "are owned by a small storage company, and are used for warehouses. Completely legitimate. The remaining three, however, are owned by an international customs law firm, which doesn't seem to be doing any business at all."

Constantine, who had been leaning against Artemis' desk, had stood straight up, and moved directly in front of the map. "What's the name of the company?"

"Custodies." A small, blinking C appeared instead of the red icons.

"That's the one." Constantine was silent for a moment, then turned away from the screen. "The sonofabitch is mocking me."

Juliet and Butler, the only two without a grasp of classical languages, looked at each other.

"I-I'm sorry." Juliet began. "But what does Custodies -?"

"It's Latin, it-it means the watchmen!" Constantine said, angry for the first time, waving his right hand at her, his left on his hip. He turned and waved his hand at the map. "It was a front company we had set up near the end to make our interactions with customers look legitimate. He must have taken control of it once we split up, using it to fund whatever demented plan he-"

Juliet stepped forward, and put her hands on his shoulders. "Hey." She whispered to him. "We're gonna get him, alright?"

It seemed to calm him down. He nodded, but said nothing.

Foaly watched the scene, smart enough not to make a crack, for once. "Umm, if it means anything, I checked the power usage on each of the sites, and the one in Australia is using a much more massive amount of power than the other two, almost 8 times the amount."

Constantine looked back up at the screen. "That's where he'll be."

"How do you know?" Holly asked.

"Because, whatever disaster he's planning for humans, he'll be making it there, and he wouldn't be caught away from his "master plan". Not on his life."

"So that's where we'll go!" Juliet said.

"No." Constantine said, not taking his eyes off the map.

"Why not?"

"Because that's not where my daughter will be. If he's keeping her as a hostage, then he'll keep her away from him, so if we come right after him, he can still use her as a bargaining chip. That's why he didn't bother to try and hide which one it was. He want me to come after him."

"Why?"

"Cause he thinks he can beat me. And then his problem is over with."

"Then why didn't he kill you a week ago?" Holly this time.

"Because he wants to toy with me. He's insane, he thinks I've become too soft, and he wants to show me his grand master plan before he offs me, maybe even get me to join him. He wants me to go after him."

"Then how do we even know he has your daughter? This could all be a trap." Artemis said.

"That's the thing," He turned to the group for the first time. "I don't. But it's my daughter, and if there's even the slightest chance she could be alive...Well, I have to find out. I really can't ask any of you to come with me on what could be an incredibly dangerous wild goose chase -"

"Don't be silly," Juliet said. She was still standing right next to him, and she took his hand in hers. "We'll be right at your back."

Artemis nodded behind her, and both Butler and Holly smiled at Constantine; who looked at all of them, then back to Juliet. "Thank you."

"Aww, how cute, I bet your babies will be miniature Hulks...With none of the Bruce Banner." That was Foaly. Ruining the moment. Juliet quickly let go of her hand.

Constantine turned towards his face projected on the screen, which had now replaced the map. "How do you even -?"

"I pirate American cable. A lot."

"Ah."

"Yes. Well, unfortunately, that's all the help I can offer you from her. Did you get the equipment I had left outside Tara."

Artemis nodded. "Yes, Foaly, we appreciate it." He had sent Butler to pick up the drop the day before.

"Alright, good. I have to go, I'll send you a copy of what I found as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Foaly." Constantine said. "Really."

"So much appreciation," Foaly said, putting his hand on his chest. "I just might die." With that, he cut the connection, and the screen went black."

"You two spoil him." Holly said.

"Everyone deserves to be spoiled every once and a while." Said Constantine, his customary smile beaming at her.

She smiled back. Everyone said their goodbyes, Juliet gave Constantine a longer-than-Butler-would-have-liked hug, and eventually Juliet, Butler, and Holly filled out, to go about their various tasks. The Butlers to check supplies and weaponry, and to make sure the Lear Jet was ready for them to fly, while Holly went to set up the communications gear, that she was going to operate from Fowl Manor while the rest went out onto the mission.

"Constantine." Artemis said, once they were the only people left in the room.

"Yes?"

"You said "if" he was going to use her as a hostage. What if he's not."

"If he's not. Then..."

"Then he's raised her as his own..."

Constantine couldn't look at him. "Yeah.."

"What will you do then?"

"I've tried not to think about it."

"But I know you do." He steepled his fingers. "It's as much a curse as a blessing, for men like us, that we always think about things like this. Whether we want to or not. We can't turn it off." Artemis stared intently at Constantine, who looked back at him, his eyes watery.

"That's what scares me the most. I've been thinking about it non-stop, in the back of my mind, always somewhere it's been there, nagging at me, and I still haven't a damn clue."

**One of my shorter chapters for this Fic. **

**Please Read and review! :)**

**much love to all my readers. **


	14. A Wrinkle in Time

**I do not own Artemis Fowl**

Chapter 14

The ride was silent and maddening. The Lear Jet's upgraded engine didn't even provide enough white noise for Juliet to sleep. It reminded her of her training with Madame Ko, when the trainees were made to stay in a room of absolute silence. To most of the trainees, it seemed like heaven, until they got in there. One at a time they walked in, and one at a time, whether it took twenty, thirty, or forty minutes, they all slowly went insane.

Your brain doesn't like absolute silence, it's used to some white noise being filtered through it at all times. Enough time without any sound, and your brain will start to make sounds for you to hear. Sometimes, it will make things for you to see to go along with the things you hear that aren't there. You will hallucinate. This is a fact that lead to an odd maxim being repeated around the academy that year: silence corrupts, and absolute silence corrupts absolutely.

Right now, Juliet would have welcomed the hallucinations, if only to give her something to do.

Usually, pre-op, Juliet wouldn't notice the boredom. Her adrenaline would be up, focus sharpened, she would be mentally block out anything around her, except the mission at hand. Usually, however, did not consist of a ten-hour flight to Brazil from Dublin. She remained focused and cued up for the first hour in a half, while Artemis and Marcus played chess. Around hour two, she started to lose focus, and Marcus got bored of losing. He sparred with Constantine for a little bit, in a Wing-Chung form that required both participants to stand still while their arms intertwined and struck at each other at blinding speed in an attempt to land a blow. By the fourth hour, though, everybody but her and her brother were asleep, and nobody even had the common courtesy to snore.

"The quiet is maddening, isn't it?" Butler asked suddenly, quiet enough not to wake the passengers.

"Huh?" Juliet wasn't paying attention.

"This calm before the storm, I always thought it was the worst part of an operation. During the action you're adrenaline is up, blood coursing through your veins. You don't even have time to think, you just act on instinct on training. But these long flights, when you have time to reflect on the fact that you might not be on the flight home – those really great on the nerves."

Juliet didn't know how to respond – she had never heard her brother speak like this before an operation. Even before she lived the life, when they were just brother and sister, he never was one to talk about feelings and philosophy. He wasn't an "Oprah" kinda guy.

Though Juliet was surprised how he suddenly started pontificating, she was more surprised by what he said next.

"I think I'm going to retire after this."

"What?" Juliet found her voice.

"This is my last op, Juliet. I don't want to do it anymore."

Juliet jumped up from her seat next to him. Standing, she was at eye-level with him. "What do you mean you don't want to do it anymore? You can't just quit! You're the best there is!"

Butler smiled at his fiery sister. "Jules, I've died twice, been mauled by a troll twice, I've blown up four times, shot seven, and stabbed and cut more times than I can remember. I've killed, too, countless, nameless men who were under trained, unprofessional, or just unlucky." He looked at Constantine, who was lolling in his sleep, mouth agape. "I wanna be around for the people I love – you, Artemis, Holly, and the baby."

He stretched his massive arms. "After this, you can call me Uncle Dom."

Juliet couldn't believe her ears. Uncle Dom? Her brother? A civilian? "What about Artemis' security?"

"Oh I'll still consult from time to time, update the Manor's systems every now and then, but I'm retiring from active duty"

Juliet couldn't believe it, her brother, Butler, a civilian. It just didn't seem possible. The end of an era, something you always knew was coming, but could never fathom cause it never seemed real in the first place.

"Maybe I'll start gardening." Butler mused to himself. Juliet's eyes widened, before she saw the glint in his eye, the cock-eyed grin. He was joking! Butler never joked. As the realization of everything hit her, set back down. Everything was going to be different, wasn't it?

She shook her head. No. Everything _was _already different, it had been changing ever since Artemis got his memory back. Things had become tamer, less adventures, less death threats. It all happened so smoothly, so naturally, she hadn't even noticed. The presence of the odd adventure, the world-saving scheme here and there had helped fill the lull, and now it was all quieting down. Juliet wasn't sure she disliked it either.

She looked around at the cabins inhabitants, Artemis sleeping gracefully, with a concerned look on his face – even in his sleep he never stopped thinking. Marcus' head, in contrast to Artemis, lolled on his shoulders, his mouth hanging open in a dumb gape. Constantine looked peaceful. Lines of worry had been drained from his face, but he didn't smile. He seemed perfectly enraptured in whatever dream his subconscious was enveloped in.

A movement caught Juliet's eye, and she looked down – the forefinger on his right hand was twitching, like he was pulling an invisible trigger.

Korea, 1953.

Constantine approached the compound, clad in black body armor decades ahead of anything anyone had at the time. He had a massive revolver in each hand, one nickel-plated, and the other was iron-black. A soldier jumped out from behind a truck, in a blink of an eye Constantine swung up his left hand and a flash and a bang mowed the nameless man down. Constantine's face showed no remorse for this, yet know shout or sound of pleasure escaped him either. Death was not something he took pleasure in, it was strictly business.

Several more soldiers streamed out of the compound and various barracks and bunkers around it until the air resonated with the sound of gunfire. Constantine dispatched each one in an efficient manner, and eight more fell before they could fire their rifles. The next three actually managed to fire at him, but his reflexes, trained in The Pit and honed over almost half a century of war, were faster than his opponents aim, and not a bullet grazed him.

The air seemed to be exploding around him, and it sounded like a war was happening around various other parts of the compound – his friends were kicking up quite a ruckus.

He lifted the revolver in his right hand and fired at another soldier who seemed to be shaking in his boots. The gun clicked. The magazine was empty.

Constantine saw the realization in the man's head, that he might have a chance to succeed where his comrades had failed, to avenge their deaths. The Angel shook his head at him, not in pleading, but in warning. His warning was not headed, however, and as soon as the soldier raised his gun, his head exploded in a mess of blood and gray-matter and a disgusting _squelch_.

Constantine lowered his head to stop the blood and gore from getting in his eyes, then looked up to the mountain, a little over a mile away, where he knew Bane lay prone with a sniper rifle longer than him. He raised his gun to his forehead. And a puff of mound of earth and clay kicked up at his feet. Constantine swore and raised his middle finger in Bane's general direction. Reliable? Yes. Insane? Probably.

His keen hearing picked up the sound of someone loading a machine gun in the Bunker behind him, and without a thought he ducked behind a concrete barrier as .48 caliber rounds filled the airspace where he just was at 800 rounds per minute.

_"_Any time now, Bane." He muttered to himself as he was showered with concrete filings from where the bullets impacted behind him, but the flow never stopped.

He rolled his eyes. Bane probably had his feelings hurt by Constantine's gesture, and was being obstinate.

"Shit!" He shouted as a large piece of concrete fell on his shoulder. He had to move. He glanced around the barrier and saw a burned out truck with fat tires. He leaped out from behind the crumbling concrete and bounded for the truck, diving behind it to safety, the bullets always two steps behind.

He reloaded his revolvers with practiced movements, and turned the corner of the truck to fire back, only to see the Korean behind the gun slump backwards, a red flower blooming on his chest.

Constantine dropped his arms to the side,exasperated. "Now he decides to fire." He glared at the mountainside.

The air around him was quiet now, all the sounds of war had died. All except a low rumbling that seemed to be coming closer.

With much ado, a Jeep loaded with five men screamed into the clearing in front of the compound.

"Yo! Porcupine!" Marcus called from the back of the Jeep. "What took you so long?"

Constantine smiled. "Me? I'm the one waiting for you assholes!"

Severus grinned at him. "Man, you should have seen it when these guys saw his sword, they went nuts. One guy even charged him with a katana."

Constantine laughed. "Did you cut a girder in half again?"

Marcus looked up to his right, scratching his neck, as if trying to remember. "Nah. Was a car."

Constantine snorted. "Geezus, man."

"Yeah, that's why we're stuck with this heap" Said Ryan, a tall, thin man with glasses.

"Cool it Gizmo, you got all the tech you need back home" Boomed out a deep bass behind him. Tank was a giant African, who's real name was something so obscure and so rarely used that the other Angels could barely remember it.

"Still, tank, it woulda been nice to leave here in style."

"Ryan, you wouldn't know style if it walked up and hit you on the tush with it's naughty parts." said a large Russian with blonde, slicked-back hair: Ivan the Five.

"At least I don't walk around in red and white striped shirts all day, Berserker."

Ivan grinned. "That's exactly what I meant."

"How's Bane, Conny?" Severus asked, cutting off the argument.

"The same as always: insulted." Constantine said. "Everyone ready?"

The Angels loaded their various weapons with metallic clicking sounds. Severus walked to the front of the group, stood next to his brother, and smiled. "Lock and load, boys." Tank kicked down the front door.

The group fought bitterly and mercilessly. There were seven of them, versus 70 more soldiers. One had to feel sorry for the soldiers.

The Angels reached the top floor where their target was located, and, supposedly, where he would be surrounded by the best bodyguards. The hallway at the top of the stairs was empty, save for a few mines which Gizmo quickly dismantled. At the end of the hallway were two heavy, steel double doors. The Angels lined up in two lines, Constantine and Severus at the front. The brothers put their shoulders to the doors, and waited for the signal from behind, which came in the form of a tap on the shoulder. They busted through.

As soon as he was through the door, Constantine felt a shotgun blast explode in the steel over his head.

"Oh shit!" he shouted as he ducked and rolled to the nearest corner, pulling his revolvers out of the holsters on the way. He leveled them at the attackers, and noticed equally-sized weapons leveled right back at him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his entire team lined up next to him, no one firing, with their weapons up. A stalemate.

"Hey, hey, these ones are good." Tank said, grinning.

There was a moment of silence, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife.

"Wait!" Severus shouted in Korean, putting his weapon to his side.

"Hey, Severus, whatcha doin?" Marcus muttered. His sword wasn't of much use in this situation, so he kept the handle up above his head, the tip pointed down, hiding almost his entire body behind the wide blade. He held a pistol in his left hand.

"Trust me on this one." He muttered back. Then, to the bodyguards he said, "Let's avoid unnecessary bloodshed. You're best fighter versus ours, hand to hand combat, first one unable to move loses. Loser's team leaves."

There was a moment of silence as the Korean men considered his deal. "How do we know you won't just shoot us as soon as we drop our guards?"

"Damn, these ones are smarter than most."

"Shut up, Be'rk." Constantine thought for a moment. "The same way we know you won't! We can either sit here staring at each other till someone falls asleep, or trust each other in this. It's best for the group."

The Koreans thought about it for a minute, none daring to look at each other, till one particularly tall one at the head of the group put his gun down. "I'll fight." He said.

Constantine nodded. "Put your guns down, boys." he said, as he holstered his own revolvers, and dropped his belt to the floor. He walked towards the center of the floor.

"Who died and made you Major?"

"Your mother, Giz." He looked back at the Angels. "Don't worry about it, just sit back and relax."

"Shit, I'm up for that," Tank said as he slumped down into a corner. "This is gonna be over quick anyway."

"Try not to kill him." Severus told Constantine.

"Yeah, but you know what it's like, stepping on an ant." Constantine said, turning to face his opponent. Severus shook his head behind him.

"Well at least try."

Constantine would have replied, but he was facing his opponent already. This was a cold fight, neither one knew either about the other, but the Korean, having the size disadvantage, would probably try strike first.

_Snap. _

There it was. He thrown a kick, which Constantine parried with his left arm as he returned with a straight right, but the Korean blocked it, so Constantine threw up his left knee to put some distance between them. The bodyguard turned using his extended leg as a pivot and moved behind Constantine, who managed to turn his high knee into a rear donkey kick, which connected low on the Korean's left arm. Constantine felt it snap. Without letting up, he turned and threw two quick jabs at the man's left side, where he couldn't defend. Before he could fall, Constantine grabbed him by the neck. He was now standing straight up with the praetorian at his right side, suspended by Conny's hand with his feet on the ground, but his knees bent at ninety-degree angles. After a breath, Constantine flipped on the spot, letting go of the Korean's neck halfway through the movement, the dropping his knee down on the man's chest before he hit the ground.

The entire fight took a little over twelve seconds.

As the bodyguard lay on the ground, coughing up blood, his comrades stared at Constantine, who recognized the look they gave him.

"No, NO!" He threw his hands up to stop them, but it was to late. They had raised their guns at him, and were quickly mowed down by his own comrades in a hail of gunfire.

"Dumb Motherfucks!" Constantine shouted.

"Sorry, man, we had to do it." Marcus said. The barrel of his pistol was smoking.

"Shit, I know. It's just..."

Severus put his hand on Constantine's shoulder. "I know man, I know."

"What should we do with this one?" Ivan asked, indicating to the fallen fighter with his gun.

"Leave him, I didn't hit him that hard, he should recover soon." Constantine walked over to him, and kneeled by his face. "If you ever want revenge, for what happened here, I'll be waiting."

He stood up and rejoined the Angels. Marcus and Severus said nothing.

"Geez, you're not getting soft on us, are ya?" Gizmo slapped him on the back. "Eh, Constantine? Constantine?.."

"Constantine?" Present day. Constantine awoke to what appeared to be a giant blonde fly staring down at him. He blinked a couple times and the fly came into focus. It was Juliet, waking him up. They were on a plane, the engines were off. They must be in Brazil. Oh right.

"We're here, Conny."

"Right." He shook his head, clearing the distant memory from his head, and stood up. He stretched and cracked several vertebrae in his back with a harsh, popping sound. He grabbed his coat from the seat next to him, where his revolver was stashed, and made his way through the plane, following Juliet down the stairs and out onto the runway, where Artemis and Butler were waiting for him.

"Here again."

**Please Read and Review!**

**I'm sorry it's taken so long to update, some stuff happened and I got distracted for a bit with school, but I'm back on track now! More to follow! Thanks to all my loyal readers!**


	15. The Moon on the Water

**I do not Own Artemis Fowl**

Chapter 15

Constantine, Juliet, Marcus and Butler were sucking down bottled water outside the car in an abandoned parking lot a mile from the compound. Constantine had remembered how to get to the old Angel base from the airport (though they got lost a few times because roads had changed) but no one wanted to try to storm the base without Holly's assistance buzzing in their ears, and Artemis was trying to set up the connection. Constantine had offered to help, but Artemis insisted that the extra people were heating up the inside of the car, making it hard for him to concentrate. So he kicked everybody out into the 100 degree sun outside of Brazil, so they could all mill about and find it hard to concentrate.

"Do you think he's done in there?" Juliet asked between gulps of water.

Constantine tapped an earpiece he'd been wearing since he got off the plane. Nothing but static. "Don't think so, or we'd have heard something by now."

Butler didn't respond, he was watching the skies for incoming threats.

"What're you doing, bro? Looking for bombers?"

"It's not impossible, we used to fire rockets from hot-air balloons... Admittedly that was in the fifties." Constantine said, rubbing his chin.

"I remember that! Remember when the backlash from that Panzerfaust took out the balloon Bane was in and he fell straight into that clump of trees?"

Constantine snorted. "Oh Christ yeah, and he broke his leg and both arms?"

Marcus was roaring now. "Yeah! He thought he would never be able to shoot again! And Helga was so pissed off at him she made him write 'I will pay attention to where I'm pointing my gun and not act like a moron.' two thousand times!"

Constantine was laughing now, too. "Yeah, while he was still in the hospital!"

"Ah man, he hated her."

"Who was Helga?" Juliet asked.

"One of our handlers." Marcus answered. "Our training didn't exactly give us the best people skills, so we had to have handlers deal with obtaining jobs and such. It was really an extensive organisation."

"How did something like that just fall apart."

"Well after the final fight, there was really no point to the organisation anymore, and it became harder to hide from various governments. From what I understand people started leaving left and right, taking jobs at the CIA, FBI, KGB, MI6, hell, they were snatched up by half the damn alphabet. Eventually it just crumbled under its own weight and was swallowed up by the CIA."

"You had government backing?"

"Sorta. We never had any official dealings with the CIA, but they often hired local mercenary groups to do the jobs they couldn't, or didn't want to. Since we were everywhere, we were always local."

Juliet looked at Constantine, who shrugged and beamed at her. "It's in the past now, an unknown part of history."

"As much as I enjoy learning history," Said a cool voice in their heads as their earpieces crackled to life. "We do have a task to accomplish, so let's try to focus on it." Artemis said, tapping on the window of the car with a long, slender finger.

Constantine opened the door to the back seat and cocked an eyebrow at Artemis as a blast of cool air – he had the air conditioning running. "You couldn't have just rolled down a window?"

Artemis looked affronted. "Well no, I would have been letting all the cold air out, which you are doing now, so if you would please come in and close the door."

Constantine rolled his eyes and sidled next to Artemis, while the two Butlers took the front seats, and Marcus sat down on the other side of Artemis. "You know you're just going to have to get out again in five minutes, right?"

"Of course, but why get a head start on discomfort?"

"Man's got a point." Marcus said.

"Are we connected to Holly?" Juliet asked from the front.

"Yes you are, Jules." Holly's voice rang out in everyone's ear.

"Hello, Holls!" Juliet said into the small microphone attached to the collar of her t-shirt, and everyone in the car echoed her sentiment.

"Yes. I had to run a call from my phone to my computer at the manor, then encrypt and boost the signal, and meld the technology with a microphone to code it to your earpieces, while connecting the phone's battery to the car's. We should be able to operate within fifteen kilometers of the car before we start to lose the signal." Artemis said.

"Yes, yes, Arty, you're very brilliant." Holly said.

"That all took you," Constantine looked at his watch. "ten minutes?"

"Well, I had to become familiar with the cars electronic systems first to prevent my phone from shorting out."

Constantine snorted. "More like you spent five minutes whispering sweet nothings to Holly before you decided to let us know we could stop sweating."

It may have just been the light glinting off a window, but Constantine would have swore he saw Artemis blush as he and Holly denied everything.

"Butler, I am perfectly capable of doing this myself." Artemis moaned as Butler checked over his bulletproof vest for the third time in front of the fence.

"Yes, but I'm uncomfortable as it is even letting you come in."

"He can always stay out with the car." Constantine said.

"The I would have to stay out with him, and this would be a perfect spot for a sniper to pick one or both of us off."

"Then go find a better spot. I can go in alone, it shouldn't take long."

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that." Artemis said. "Should our enemy be expecting us, which they most likely are, then it would be the perfect chance to divide our forces, and take us out at our weakest."

"He's right, bro. We're strongest together." Juliet chimed in.

"And I can keep track of any electronics from here, watch for alarms and defence systems."

"You know how to do that?" Constantine asked.

"I may not be Foaly, but I'm not technologically stupid. Your mud-man technology is aeons behind things I used to deal with every day, especially in this heap of a compound."

Holly wasn't being harsh. The Compound did look like a heap. The fence surrounding it was rusted and had holes in places, the sheet metal on the outside of the building was in similar condition, the grass was several feet high and brown, and several of the windows were shattered.

"Don't underestimate it." Marcus said, giving swinging his sword several times to stretch himself out. "Our technology was several decades ahead of the time – we had computers smaller and more advanced than anyone had till the 80's, and the wires on top of the fence are live, I can hear the voltage from here."

"And there are several mechanical defence protocols in place to deal with intruders, it would be sick, but I wouldn't put it past Severus to still have them active, and maybe even have them updated."

"Especially if he has your daughter here." Marcus added.

Constantine nodded.

"So how do we go about getting in?" Juliet asked.

"I should be able to overide the main gate if it's electronic." Holly buzzed from the earpiece.

Constantine walked over to an empty guard house outside the front gate, with Butler eyeing him carefully, and tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge. Without hesitation, he reared back and kicked the sheet-metal door off the hinges.

"Nope," He said. "just gotta knock." He said. He turned towards a rusty keypad and typed in a code, and the gate started to open on freshly-oiled wheels.

"That's not good." Artemis said, stepping forward.

"What's wrong?" Holly asked.

"The door opened."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"Not really," Constantine said, stepping out of the console. "That was a code from over sixty years ago. Severus has kept this place running, but if that code still works, then he's not trying to keep us out."

"So that means..."

Then Butler said what everyone else had been thinking. "We're walking into a trap."

**:0**

**Shorter chapter, that ended with a cliffie, but please Read and Review!**

**Next one will be longer, I promise!**


	16. Friends in Old Places

**I do not own Artemis Fowl or any of it's characters. **

Chapter 16

Marcus walked forward slowly, his giant broadsword resting on his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" Juliet called to him. Constantine was already following behind, his black jacket billowing.

He turned and smiled at them. "Don't worry, we dealt with situations like this all the time. Besides, its not like I can just go back now." He turned away from them. "You three wait here, we'll go and sweep through the place and try and find my daughter."

Constantine continued walking behind Marcus, when Artemis, Butler, and Juliet all came up next to him.

"You idiot." Juliet said. "We're not gonna back out now, we told you we were in this to help you."

"Besides, you're gonna need us, if this is a trap." Artemis said. "You're absolutely hopeless without us."

Butler nodded.

Constantine grinned. "Thanks."

They continued walking across the open yard. Butler, Juliet, and Constantine instinctively took up protective positions around Artemis, while Marcus took point. He pushed on the door. It didn't budge.

"That's new." He muttered.

"Locks on the door?" Artemis asked, steeping around Constantine.

"Electronic locks." Marcus said, pointing to a keypad. "We didn't use 'em. We always figured if you got through the gate you belonged here."

"You know, for a secret organisation you were remarkably careless." Artemis said. He examined the keypad while scratching his chin with his thumbnail

"Yeah? How much have you found out about us, mop top?"

Artemis punched in six numbers on the keypad, and the door opened. "Enough to know your secret codes." He said.

Marcus' jaw dropped. "How'd you do that?"He asked.

"Trade secret."

The group walked past Marcus, and Constantine put his hand on his shoulder. "Well, now you feel like a jackass."

Marcus batted his hand away. "Ah shaddup, needle noggin."

Constantine laughed as all five walked into a deserted lobby. The quiet from the building was infectious, and the echoes of his laughter died in its halls.

"This place is spooky." Juliet said.

"Be careful," Constantine said. "who knows what relics might pop up, trying to kill you."

"What do you mean?" Butler asked.

Before anyone could respond, Marcus raised his sword, and two shots were fired. A box with a hole in it fell in a heap onto the ground. A single bullet, crushed and smoking, fell clanging to the ground from Marcus' sword, right in front of Artemis. Constantine's gune was drawn, the barrel smoking, his eyes glowing blue.

Butler and Juliet was were frozen in place, neither of them even saw what had just happened.

"That's what he means." Marcus said, placing the sword on his shoulders again. "We never bothered putting locks on the doors, because if you got in here when you weren't supposed to be, there were numerous traps, not to mention a number of the most dangerous men and women in existence, waiting for you."

He looked back at them over his shoulder. "We were not worried about intruders."

Constantine walked towards the door on the right of the desk. "The best thing to do would be to disable the computers that control the system." He said, the door opened soundlessly. "Follow me."

They all walked slowly down the hall with Constantine in the lead. Marcus and Butler both checked either room they came across, But they were all deserted.

"I think we're being led on a wild goose chase." Artemis said. "There's no one here to protect anything. If he had a little girl living here for all those years, there would have to be someone here watching over her."

"We havent yet seen the whole place." Marcus said, opening another door to an empty room. "It's possible he's keeping her in one part of the compound, and we're just searching the wrong part. Just be glad we haven't run into any more traps."

Constantine didn't respond, but kept walking down the long hallway until he reached the end. At the end there was a door. When he opened the door, the hallway was floode with light, and the group entered into a massive room filled from top to bottom with circuitry. It was a massive, ancient computer room.

The entire computer was humming and whirring, still operating after all those years. Constantine ran his hands along the chrome steel as he walked towards a chair and keyboard that stood alone in the middle of the machine. He sat down and placed his hands on the keys.

"Why are you still running?" he mutterred, as he typed in a few keys. "There's nothing left here for you." He pressed the enter key and leaned back. The entire mechanism started to quiet, before it let out one final groan and shut down. The lights turned off. The beast fell silent.

Constantine rubbed his nose. "There should be no more traps left." We can move a little quicker now."

He stood up, and Marcus followed him towards a door across to the one they came in from. Artemis followed after Marcus, then Juliet, then Butler.

With the traps shut down, the group rushed through the rest of the complex, both Marcus and Constantine running faster and faster from door to door as more of the rooms they searched turned up empty. It started to become clear that no one was here for them. It only left the mystery of why the compound had been left running.

It took them an hour to search the whole building, but they found nothing. No left coffee mugs from rushed out employees, no food crumbs in the break rooms, no paper in the offices. Apart from the few, running, electronics, there was very little in the building. It was stripped bare. When they left, however, neither Constantine or Marcus headed for the exit. Instead they started walking towards the corner of the building, and the rest of the group followed them, not knowing where they were being led. When they turned the corner, they discovered the reason: a large warehouse made of corrugated metal sillohuetted against the setting sun.

"What's that?" Juliet asked.

"It was the armory." Marcus said. "No idea what it's supposed to be now, but it's the last place we have to check."

Constantine started walking forward, looking at the door to the warehouse so intently an outsider would have sworn it insulted his mother. He stopped about ten feet short of the rusted metal door. Marcus walked up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax." He said softly, but Constantine didn't take his eyes off the door.

"Something's off." He said. He sniffed the air around him. Juliet and Butler looked at each other, they couldn't smell anything abnormal. Artemis, however, had his brow furrowed. Constantine moved his head as if he were looking for something. "Do you smell-?"

"Green tea." Artemis said. "A strong blend, prevelant mostly in north-eastern China and the Koreas."

Constantine looked from Artemis to Marcus, who was looking back at him. "You don't think he..."

"He wouldn't..."

Constantine turned, and walked towards the door, opening it without a hint of hesitation or caution. "He did."

Inside was black. There was no light in the room save for the meagre glow coming from a small lamp sitting on a card table with a flowery table cloth layed over it in the meticulous fashion of a mother waiting for a guest. Next to the lamp was a small, bamboo tray, on which was a chiseled stone teapot, with matching cups, two of which were steaming with fresh tea. Next to the table were two folding chairs, reddish-brown rust showing through the black paint. On one chair was an old, Asian man, who picked up one of the cups with a sure and steady hand, sipping the tea while smirking at Constantine, who he never took his eyes off of, even when Marcus, Butler, Juliet and Artemis all sidled in next to him. His eyes sparkled like those of a jackal who had stumbled on a wounded and dying lion.

"Hello, Constantine." He said, between loud slurps of tea. "It's good to see you again."

**Sorry this took so long to write, and ended up being such a short chapter. I promise to begin writing more frequently now! **


	17. Old Monsters

**Holyshitnewchappie!**

Chapter 17

Old Monsters

Constantine looked the Asian man up and down, taking in every bit of detail that was available to him: the distance between his eyes, the slope of his nose, the angle of his jaw, his stance, height, general weight, the way he held his hands; any information he could use to gain an advantage over this person, friend or enemy. It was not until he looked at the man as a whole that he was struck with an uncanny sense of familiarity, as if he had passed a man on the street whom he was certain was an old friend, but by no means of possibility could be.

"I know you." He said, after several seconds. More to himself than the man in front of him, but the man laughed anyway. A scraping, gasping sound, accompanied by bits of spittle, that betrayed the man's age and sent chills up Artemis' spine.

"Yes, but you don't quite no where from, do you?" He said. "To be honest that doesn't surprise me too much, the fact that you remember me at all either speaks to my impression or your intelligence, and if you're anything like the other one, I'd be inclined towards the latter." He spoke perfect English with an American accent. His voice, powerful, sure, smooth, completely at odds with either his laugh or his apparent age, had an inhuman quality about it that made Butler wary of the man, despite his appearance, which seemed so slight that an outsider would probably feel the giant would be able to snap it with one swipe of his magnificent hands; a closed fist being what others would call "overkill."

Constantine, however, started to slowly move in a circle around the man, drawing his line of sight away from the group. "You know Severus."

The man seemed curious at this. "Was that his name? I never learned it, to be honest I didn't even know your name until he told it to me."

"You work for a man whose name you don't even know?"

"I'll work with anyone, if it means I get closer to accomplishing my goals."

"What are those goals?"

"You. Dead at my hands"

Constantine's eyes narrowed. "You don't even know me."

The man's smile dropped, his nostrils flaring as he glared at Constantine, never taking his eyes off of him. "I don't need to know you, you silly man. I only need to know the embarrassment and shame you brought upon me as you defeated me, slaughtered my companions, and left me alive to be branded a coward!"

Constantine's eyes grew wide, realization dawning on his face. "Korea..."

The man nodded.

"We were soldier's of fortune then!" Constantine said. "We both were, we knew the score."

"Yes!" The man roared, slamming his cup into the floor, where it smashed into pieces. "Kill or be killed, that was always the way! Yet you wouldn't even allow me a warrior's death!"

"So you spent your life trying to avenge the fact that I let you live. What a waste."

"DON'T" He screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. "talk to me about life! What do you know of life? Look at you! In sixty years I've grown old and you haven't aged a day, you monster!" The man grew quiet for a moment, him and Constantine glaring at each other, before he spoke again, almost muttering "You have no idea what it is to dedicate a life to something."

Constantine glared at the man, his nostrils flaring. "You're right about one thing," He said. "I am a monster." He pulled his gun and held it up, his whole face contorting into a look of rage. "But make no mistake, I've completely dedicated my life to one goal, and I will let nothing get in my way!" He breathed in, and then out. "So why don't you just get out of my way before you get seriously hurt this time."

The man grinned. "You can't even threaten me properly. No, like then you just don't have it in you to kill."

Constantine dropped his gun arm. "I wouldn't be so sure."

His opponent grinned, and took a fighting stance, his lead hand pointing at Constantine like a blade. "Let's go then."

Constantine hesitated a moment. Then sighed. He tossed his gun to the side, and then his jacket followed suit. He faced the man with sad eyes.

"Pathetic." the man moved in a blink, Artemis couldn't even follow him. The next he saw the gap had closed between the two fighters, with the Korean stretched out in a kick towards Constantine's head, who appeared doubled up, balancing on one foot, blocking the kick with his knee.

Constantine dug his right heel in, and pushed the man's leg away with his knee. The old man spun, using the momentum to transfer into a donkey kick, which Constantine blocked with his forearm.

Constantine immediately tried to strike the man's inner knee with the blade of his palm, but the mercenary was too fast, and jumped away. Constantine didn't hesitate, and closed the distance between them. He threw a left straight, but the mercenary deflected it and aimed a kick at the blonde man's knee.

Constantine drew his leg up over the kick and tried to bring his heel down on the man's shin, but the Korean slid out, and the soldier only grazed his calf.

Artemis watched as the two went at it with lightning speed. One would try a jab, and get his nose broken with an elbow as a result. There was no room for mistake, no room for miscalculation. The ex-mercenaries fought at a blinding pace, the likes of which even the boy genius, with all his experience watching Butler fight, had never seen before. He tried to use what Constantine taught him, to read the field of battle, to predict what would come next, but he was having trouble keeping up.

"This is good."

Artemis turned to look at Marcus, who was watching the lethal dance with a confident smile. "Why?"

"He's fighting on instinct again."

Artemis was puzzled. "He taught me not to fight on instinct."

Marcus looked at him. "I don't know why he taught you that, but I would guess people with intellect like yours and his can fight against mere mortals through planning, like it was a chess game or something."

"I feel a 'but' coming on"

Marcus nodded, looking back at the fight. "But in fights against people like us, people like him, it's too fast to plan ahead. Too dangerous to think. His thoughts will cloud his mind, mar his judgement, it will make him hesitate when he sees an opening, and that could get him killed. To be honest, he's still not fighting at the level he used to fight at, and that will be a problem when he faces Severus."

Artemis turned back to the fight. "what does he have to do in order to beat him?"

Marcus was silent for a moment. "He has to be ready to kill again."

**Hey, so this was a bit of a shorter chapter, but i just really wanted to get this up and get to publishing again. Sorry this has taken so long, Life's been crazy. Love you guys, **

**-Mercenary Moon**


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